GM completed the purchase of Hughes Aircraft Co.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute reported that it has received $2.7 billion in cash and 50 million shares of General Motors’ new Class H stock from GM as payment for the purchase of the giant El Segundo-based defense electronics firm. The purchase price was estimated at more than $5 billion. The Washington-based medical research organization had held all of the stock of Hughes Aircraft since the creation of both the institute and the company in 1953 by the late Howard R. Hughes.