So I'm guessing it's not a typo but instead a way to shape the data to fit the assumptions. Saying GE is 44th on the list is misleading at best and disingenuous for sure. From the wikipedia page on the Forbes list, it's clear that the rankings are based on all four of the measured statistics, not just assets.

It is interesting to me that 5 of the top 10 and all of the top 3 are financial institutions. By comparison to 2012, Only 4 of the top 10 were financial companies and ExxonMobil led the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_Global_2000