Ge Blames Sale For Earnings Plunge

General Electric Co. said Thursday that the sale of its troubled Kidder, Peabody brokerage cost $917 million in the fourth quarter, causing a 48 percent drop in quarterly earnings.

But earnings for the full year were up 10 percent.

GE reported earning $768 million, or 45 cents per share, in the quarter, compared to $1.48 billion, or 87 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

For the year, GE reported earning $4.73 billion, or $2.77 per share, vs. $4.31 billion, or $2.52 per share, for 1993. The results include a loss of $1.2 billion on the Kidder, Peabody operations.