One of Suria’s main concerns about GE was the way Jack, and then Jeff, had mesmerized people about the company. They had convinced Wall Street research analysts—who by and large were industrial analysts, not financial analysts—that GE Capital was only 40 percent of GE’s earnings. Or 45 percent of GE’s earnings. And then 50 percent of GE’s earnings. But that was the wrong way to think about it, Suria argued. Given that GE Capital was nearly 90 percent of GE’s assets and that those assets were leveraged eight to one, there was a gargantuan unappreciated risk on GE Capital’s balance sheet.
