20121029-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 10/26/2012 6:30 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 28, No. 45 OCTOBER 29 – NOVEMBER 4, 2012 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2012 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Page 3 WORLD SERIES Insurance chief works out State jobs Blue Cross payment details bank may University Research In the ALS stem not be cell trials may come to Ann cards open to all Arbor, PHOTO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Page 11 Owners of Tigers, Giants made Change concerns fortunes far from ballparks staffing firms BY SHERRI WELCH Crain’s Lists One was a speedy minor-league second base- CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS man with a bum knee who took a gamble on A talent website the state re- Largest business insurance pizza becoming an American staple. The other launched in mid-October includes agencies, Page 23 was a 24-year-old taking over his dad’s modest bells and whistles like a career in- financial retail brokerage firm on Wall Street. vestment calculator enabling peo- Today, Detroit’s Mike Ilitch and San Fran- ple to weigh their investment in Largest automotive higher education against the earn- cisco’s Charles Johnson are billionaire titans of aftermarket parts suppliers, ing power of various careers. their industries — discount pizza and mutual But the site’s second iteration — Page 24 funds, respectively. And the baseball teams at www.mitalent.org, which re- they have come to own became World Series ri- placed the Michigan Talent Bank This Just In vals. on Oct. 16 — also includes a provi- Their business careers were born of the late sion that has alarmed some local staffing companies. Fisker asks judge to delay 1950s, the Eisenhower era of staid gray flannel Concerns from job seekers and suits, crew cuts, pompadours and saddle shoes. employers prompted the state to A123 Systems auction Today, their companies are sophisticated block recruiters and staffing com- Fisker Automotive Inc., global operations. panies from viewing job seeker which has plants in metro De- How they rose to become two of America’s profiles on the site. The policy troit, has asked a bankruptcy change came after job seekers re- judge to delay the auction of richest men and pro sports team owners, and ported aggressive recruiters were electric car battery maker how they oversee those franchises, are as dif- shopping their resumés to employ- A123 Systems Inc. ferent as they are similar. ers without their knowledge. “A hurried sale process will Turn to Page 32 to learn how Ilitch came to In addition, employers expressed be damaging to the estates own the Detroit Tigers, how Johnson acquired concerns that staffing firms were and deprive creditors of value the San Francisco Giants, and how each man competing with them for the best that may be realized through candidates. made his fortune. higher and better offers,” See Talent, Page 30 Gregg Galardi, a Fisker attor- ney, said in court papers filed JEFF JOHNSTON/CDB Friday in Wilmington, Del. Fisker, which has plants in Livonia and Romulus, seeks an extension of at least U.S. slump prepped suppliers for Europe slide 30 days in the bid deadline, auction date, and related BY DUSTIN WALSH fects of the eurozone recession are the planned reduction of more dates and deadlines in the CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS forcing automakers to make deci- than 800 workers, executives and bidding procedures request, sions on clo- experts say the supplier fallout is court papers show. The European economic crisis sures, job cuts next. A123, the recipient of a is hitting home for Southeast and reduced or- But corporate leaders can lean $249 million federal grant, Michigan-based automotive sup- ders. on contingency plans developed said it would sell its automo- pliers. But some of the lessons For suppliers, during this continent’s downturn. tive business assets to Mil- learned during the North Ameri- that ultimately Auburn Hills-based TI Automo- waukee-based Johnson Con- can downturn are expected to soft- affects bottom tive LLC operates 50 plants and trols Inc. in a deal valued at en the blow. lines, and sup- three technical centers in Europe, $125 million. A123, based in In Europe, the deepening crisis pliers are taking including cash-crunched Spain Waltham, Mass., listed assets is causing buyers to avoid dealer- action to stay and Italy. Forty-five percent of TI’s of $459.8 million and debt of ships, with the auto market on ahead of the col- revenue comes from Europe. Kozyra $376 million as of Aug. 31 in track to see its biggest drop in 19 lapse. But Bill Kozyra, chairman, CEO KENNY CORBIN Chapter 11 documents. years in 2012, according to the After Ford Motor Co.’s announce- and president of TI, said the sup- Kelly Services’ Kirk Hanna says the — Bloomberg News Brussels-based European Automobile ment last week of the closure of state’s new talent website lets Kelly Manufacturers’ Association. The ef- two European plants in 2014 and See Suppliers, Page 31 post jobs but not search for workers. Does Your Ad HIT the Mark? Measure the effectiveness of your ads FREE OF CHARGE in the Nov. 12 issue of Crain’s Detroit Business • AD CLOSE: NOV. 1 For more information, please contact Marla Wise at 313.446.6032 or email [email protected] NEWSPAPER 20121029-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 10/26/2012 5:16 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS October 29, 2012 MICHIGAN BRIEFS Meijer reportedly plans major rolling furlough April 30 and ex- tended that on Aug. 30. makeover of ‘dated’ headquarters Dow: Impact of plant closures, restructuring TBD The plant received a $151 mil- The corporate presence of retail lion grant from the U.S. govern- giant Meijer Inc. in West Michigan It could be weeks or months before the impacts of elsewhere. Dow said the job cuts amount to 5 per- ment and also invested $151 mil- soon could undergo a major over- a planned restructuring by Midland-based Dow cent of its workforce worldwide. The company ex- lion of its own money in the plant, haul. The company’s “dated” cor- Chemical Co. are announced, a company spokesman pects to save about $500 million annually by the end according to the Grand Rapids porate headquarters in the Grand said last week. of 2014. Dow also plans to slash capital spending and Business Journal. Rapids suburb of Walker soon will Dow plans to close a diesel particulate filters oper- investments, saving another $500 million. The plant, expected to create be transformed into a “modern ... ation, which consists of two plants in Midland, com- All told, Dow expects to save $2.5 billion. 300-400 jobs by 2013, got tax breaks cohesive corporate campus,” al- pany spokesman Kyle Bandlow told MLive.com. Late Tuesday, the company issued its third-quarter from state and local governments, beit with a road running through Michigan operations total more than 30 plants, cen- earnings report, which had been expected to come out according to the newspaper. Al- its center, an official for the city of tralized research and development operations and Thursday morning. It reported a nearly 40 percent though the furloughs are unpaid, Walker told MiBiz last week. 550 buildings on 1,900 acres. drop in net income to $497 million, or 42 cents a share, employees are eligible to receive Meijer has filed plans with the Dow plans to eliminate about 2,400 jobs and close from $815 million, or 69 cents, in the same quarter last unemployment benefits and their city to renovate portions of its ex- roughly 20 plants as part of a restructuring aimed at year. Revenue dropped 10 percent to $13.64 billion, led regular health insurance benefits. isting headquarters building and enduring slowing economic growth in Europe and by a 10 percent decline in Europe. Workers still maintain around another office building south of 85 percent of their regular monthly the intersection. Meijer officials compensation, the release said. LG don’t deny the plans but declined Health Partners, plus hospitals in ter startups,” the ePrize Inc. founder hicles has led South Korean bat- Chem does not plan to use federal to discuss them with MiBiz. Cadillac and Grayling. Adding and managing partner of Detroit Ven- tery maker LG Chem to delay the grant money to pay for idle time. Metro Health to the Trinity Health ture Partners told MiBiz. start of production at its Holland fold would enable both to better At an Economic Club of Grand plant, reported Automotive News, Find business news from Trinity Health CEO ‘absolutely’ compete in West Michigan against Rapids luncheon last week, Linkn- an affiliate publication of Crain’s around the state at crainsdetroit interested in Metro Health market leader Spectrum Health. er argued for a more entrepreneur- Detroit Business. Production at the .com/crainsmichiganbusiness. Metro Health President and CEO ial climate. “I think that it isn’t De- lithium-ion battery plant was to Sign up for Crain's Michigan Wyoming-based Metro Health’s Mike Faas also wants to talk with troit versus Grand Rapids. It’s have started this year, but LG Business e-newsletter at crains quest for a partner has at least one Kalamazoo-based Borgess Health about all of us together as one Chem put 200 employees on a detroit.com/emailsignup. potential suitor highly interested. and Flint-based McLaren Health. state, and I think there’s amazing A decade after making a rejected work happening here in the start- offer to acquire Metro, Novi-based up community,” he said.