GE calls Dow Jones Immelt report 'inaccurate'

Published: 29 Oct 2008 18:00:51 PST

BOSTON, Oct 29 - A spokesman for General Electric Co said on Wednesday that a Dow Jones report quoting Chief Executive Jeff Immelt as forecasting flat profit in 2009 was "completely out of context and inaccurate."

Immelt's comments, made at a business group dinner in Spain, were a response to a hypothetical question about how to motivate managers during a time of financial crisis, said Russell Wilkerson, a GE spokesman.

"There was no forecast, no guidance given here," Wilkerson told Reuters in a phone interview.