"There is no Armageddon scenario," said Keith Sherin, the chief financial officer (cfo) of ge in an interview in July with 247wallst.com, a website. Two months later, Mr Sherin may have regretted his optimism. As the credit markets froze and investors panicked, he found himself embroiled in a frantic effort to stabilise the huge, triple-A-rated conglomerate. In the space of a few days, ge raised fresh capital from Warren Buffett and other investors; slashed its profit forecast; abandoned a share-repurchase programme; and paid extraordinary interest rates (for ge, at least) to meet its overnight financial needs in the commercial-paper market.rnOn October 27th ge became the first company to borrow from the Federal Reserve's new Commercial Paper Funding Facility-not, the firm insists, because it is having difficulty borrowing, but to help get the facility going. Meanwhile, Mr Sherin is trying to reduce ge's use of commercial paper (it is the world's largest issuer).
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