What do the numbers mean?

General Electric’s 2001 annual report is 93 pages and has 30 percent more financial information than the year before. Primarily GE provided more specific data about 26 individual businesses, including its industrial units as well as GE Capital, compared with just 12 business segments for 2000. Other companies such as International Business Machines and Sun Trust Banks have promised greater disclosure in reports, as investors seem now to want more corporate nitty-gritty, hoping it will protect them from Enron-like surprises. Williams Companies, a natural gas and energy trading company, may take the prize for having the largest annual report—it’s 1,234 pages, three times as large as the previous year!
Source: Rachel Emma Silverman, “GE’s Annual Report Bulges With Data in Bid to Address Post-
Enron Concerns,” Wall Street Journal (March 11, 2002).