Groupon grows Chicago-based Groupon has acquired a new York company that specializes in gathering data about local consumers. The Chicago Tribune says it could be the “deal of the year.”
Long way to go in Toledo The Toledo area has seen 7,200 new jobs in manufacturing since June of 2009. That’s the second best improvement in the country (Lansing, Mich. is number one). But the Toledo Blade says there are still 36 percent fewer manufacturing jobs than there were in 1998.
Background check The Blade also has a Special Report out this morning. The newspaper hired investigators in China to look into two Chinese investors who’ve invested millions in Toledo. The paper finds that the two investors amassed their fortunes thanks to connections to the ruling Communist Party in China, and after years of service as government bureaucrats. (Our own Dan Bobkoff reported on Toledo’s China connection last summer).
Losing to the Big Easy Indianapolis was in the running for a GE corporate office with 300 high-paying jobs. But the company picked New Orleans instead.
Next in line The New York Times profiles the heir apparent to the CEO office at Ford.
Unpaid fees Detroit decides it’s time to collect.
Media moratorium The Chicago News Cooperative, a non-profit news agency that had been providing content to The New York Times, will suspend its operations on February 26th.