GE profit rises 18 percent in third quarter

General Electric

The largest U.S. conglomerate said on Friday that third-quarter earnings attributable to common shareholders came to $2.34 billion, or 22 cents per share, compared with $1.98 billion, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.

The results included an 8-cent-per-share charge to buy back the preferred shares the company had sold to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc during the financial crisis.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)