The last bundle of financial bailouts included the Government taking an equity position in companies. They made profit when they sold the stock. One example is the ownership stake they took in Citigroup.
>The main sources of that revenue are $23.1 billion through dividend or interest payments, $19.7 billion from sales of equity or other assets that Treasury acquired (mostly stock in Citigroup); and $9.63 billion through stock warrants which Treasury received as part of most of the investments. When companies pay back the TARP investment, the warrants are either sold back to the company or auctioned off.
Such numbers are purely notional. Governments are not judged based on profit or loss, particularly the US government because of the special status of the dollar (in times of crisis people want USD or USD bonds). Governments are judged based on the strength of their economy which requires a holistic approach. "Making a profit" does absolutely nothing for any of the economic indicators that governments are judged on, such as employment, GDP PPP, etc
https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/
>The main sources of that revenue are $23.1 billion through dividend or interest payments, $19.7 billion from sales of equity or other assets that Treasury acquired (mostly stock in Citigroup); and $9.63 billion through stock warrants which Treasury received as part of most of the investments. When companies pay back the TARP investment, the warrants are either sold back to the company or auctioned off.