Corporate Welfare Friday

(Update includes earnings results for General Electric, Bank of America and General Electric.)

Three troubled corporate titans reported earnings Friday morning, after using an expanse of government support to plug balance-sheet holes, leverage earnings power or boost investor confidence enough to operate in the financial markets.

Bank of America (BAC Quote), Citigroup (C Quote) and General Electric (GE Quote) have received varying degrees of federal support throughout the economic crisis. But all three can't deny -- like most companies with big financial components over the past 10 months -- they have received some form of handout. That's why we're dubbing today Corporate Welfare Friday.

All three firms topped earnings estimates on Friday, collectively reporting $10.4 billion in profit. It's worth noting how much government support BofA, Citi and GE were able to lean on to boost results.

BofA and Citi have received $90 billion in bailout funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, not including yet-to-be-valued warrants. They have also taken advantage of $12.5 billion in asset guarantees and nearly $70 billion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees on new debt issued through the first quarter.

What the Fed: Corporate Welfare Friday

Citi outlined nearly $30 billion in FDIC backing on its commercial paper and interbank deposits as well, along with another $7 billion in FDIC guarantees in the first portion of the second quarter. BofA said it has used other short-term FDIC guarantees, the Treasury's money market guarantees, and several discounted lending programs from the Federal Reserve, but did not disclose the amount.

The only company that has received more explicit government support than BofA is zombie insurer American International Group (AIG Quote), of which the government owns 80%. General Motors, which went bankrupt, and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote), the zombie mortgage-finance giant, have also received more direct support than Citi. (Those rankings are based just on capital injections and asset guarantees.)