GE to Buy Hughes

General Electric said on Thursday it was in discussion with the No. 3 oilfield services provider Baker Hughes on potential partnerships, Fox Business reported. “While nothing is concluded, none of these options include an outright purchase,” GE said in a statement. Baker Hughes shares, which had jumped nearly 14% in extended trading after the Wall Street Journal had reported that General Electric was in talks to buy the company, pared some gains and were up about 7%. GE shares were down 0.2% at $28.56. The deal would be large even for GE, roughly double the size of its $13 billion acquisition of power assets from Alstom last year.