GE plans 6,500 job cuts in Europe

General Electric (GE) reportedly plans to eliminate 6,500 Europe-based jobs at energy businesses the U.S. manufacturing giant acquired last year in its $9.5 billion deal with French multinational company Alstom SA.

An estimated 765 jobs will be eliminated in France, most at Alstom's headquarters outside Paris and at an electric grid business, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing comments from a Europe-based GE spokesman.

GE has opened talks with French labor unions and will continue its commitment to add 1,000 jobs to its employment force in France during the first three years after the Nov. 2015 Alstom acquisition, the Journal reported.

The job cuts represent approximately 14% of the 48,000 workers that GE's power and water unit employs in Europe after the acquisition, Bloomberg News reported.

"The restructuring plan will touch several European countries and impact potentially 6,500 jobs out of 35,000," Agence France Press reported, similarly citing a GE spokesman.

GE and CEO Jeffrey Immelt capped lengthy negotiations with European regulators by acquiring Alstom's power businesses as part of a strategic shift back to the Connecticut-based company's manufacturing roots.

The approvals came after GE agreed to divesting a segment of Alstom’s heavy duty gas turbine business to Ansaldo Energia, an Italy-based supplier of power generation plants and components.

GE also agreed to divest Alstom's power systems manufacturing division, a move aimed at addressing concerns that regulators raised over competition for service of GE gas turbines. The division provides after-market parts and services for other manufacturers’ equipment.

GE shares were up 25 cents at $28.90 in trading shortly after U.S. financial markets opened.