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This is good news for GE.

General Electric Co. said Friday its third-quarter profit rose 6 percent as the industrial products, financial services and media conglomerate reported strong orders across the company.

Not only is this just generally good news, but especially for what's apparantly up for them in the future.

All numbers are up from last year.

For the first nine months of the year, GE earned $14.1 billion, or $1.36 a share, versus $13.3 billion, or $1.25 a share, a year ago. Nine-month revenue rose to $118.6 billion from $107.3 billion a year earlier.

There could also be large infusions of capital.

Results included a loss from discontinued operations of $100 million and adjustments related to the Genworth and GE Insurance Solutions divestitures and the results of GE Life, which is in the process of being sold.

And...

The company said in July that it intends to sell its electrical products distributor to Rexel Inc., based in France, for $725 million.

But lest you think that money is just going into the corporate piggy bank...

It also acquired a significant interest in Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya and, in June, announced intentions to team with Credit Suisse Group will team in a $1 billion project to invest in infrastructure projects worldwide.

That joint venture, in which the companies will invest $500 million each, is intended to develop and finance utility work such as power generation and transmission projects, water projects, and gas storage and pipelines.

That sounds lofty.

“Our strong third-quarter performance was led by our infrastructure segment, where profits rose 24 percent on excellent performances across its portfolio including energy, which is on track for the strong second half we expected,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt in a statement.

So, we'll see what happens should they pull the trigger on those sales. They might be a player to watch in the next few years.

Of course, then there's that little venture called NBC.