GE Lighting Solutions announced it would create 50 jobs in Cleveland and give the city $150,000 a year during the proposed 10-year contract in exchange for the right to sell the city LEDs.

It’s reported that Mayor Frank Jackson has announced the city was finalizing an exclusive 10-year contract with a Chinese company, Sunpu-Opto Semiconductor Ltd., to sell the city LED lights in exchange for 350 jobs early in March. Howerver, according to Sunpu-Opto representative Peter Tien, the price structure was too low and Sunpu-Opto did not want to lose money on the deal.

This time, GE has become one of only two companies that responded by the Dec. 1 bidding deadline. Cleveland City Council members said they were told that the other bidder, ATC Lighting and Plastics in Ashtabula County, failed to include a required financial guaranty, called a bid bond.
 
GE Lighting President Michael Petras said the company does $20 million a year in business with suppliers in the city and hopes that recent efforts will lead to another $5 million in purchases.