General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt, two weeks after turning down $11.7 million in bonus pay, took responsibility for eroded investor trust and said he will work to restore faith in GE.

“Our company’s reputation was tarnished because we weren’t the ‘safe and reliable’ growth company that is our aspiration,” Immelt, 53, said in his yearly letter to shareholders dated Feb. 6 and released Monday with the annual report. “I accept responsibility for this. But, I think the environment presents an opportunity of a lifetime.”

GE declined 56 percent in 2008 and yesterday fell 59 cents to close at $7.01 a share, buffeted by a global recession and credit crisis that sapped profit at the GE Capital finance arm. Immelt bought 50,000 shares to show confidence yesterday, the first trading day after GE cut its annual dividend for the first time since 1938 to conserve cash.