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Empresas y finanzas

Freddie Mac posts record profit, to surpass $71.3 billion bailout


    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac said on Thursday it will soon send the U.S. Treasury a $10.4 billion dividend after posting a ninth straight quarterly profit, pushing taxpayers further into the black on their bailout of the mortgage giant.

    When it makes the payment next month, Freddie Mac will have paid about $81.8 billion more in dividends than the $71.3 billion it received from the Treasury when it was bailed out during the financial crisis.

    The nation's second-largest mortgage finance company earned a net income of $8.6 billion in the three months ended December 31, paving the way for the payment. The latest profit brought earnings for 2013 to $48.7 billion, the highest on record. It had net income of $11.0 billion a year earlier.

    (Reporting By Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Nick Zieminski)