DETROIT -- A business owned by Detroit's mayor has been sold. Now, employees of the Bing Metals Group wait for a package in the mail to let them know if they have a job to come back to this week.

The company, an automotive supplier, had been suffering because of the ailing economy and automotive industry.

L & W Engineering of Belleville bought the company, which is owned by Mayor Dave Bing.

The company told workers to expect a Fed Ex letter that would tell them that their job with Bing was terminated. But most were also expected to receive a letter offering them a position with the new company -- Oakland Stamping.

"The best of my understanding is that the group that it was sold to committed to keep the business in the city of Detroit and keep as many of the employees as they could, here in the city," Bing said.

Bing said he's been told that the company will use personal interview to determine employee structure.

Bing hasn't been a part of operations at the company for more than eight months because of his political undertakings.

"That's 29 years of my life I put into that. And you don't like to see negative things happen to anybody," Bing said. "But we tried to make the best out of a bad situation. But because of the industry that we're in, and it's hurting, most of the suppliers are hurting."

Bing received the most votes in a special mayoral primary in February and defeated incumbent Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. in a May runoff to complete Kwame Kilpatrick's second term in office.

Cockrel moved up from his seat as City Council president to mayor in September 2008 after Kilpatrick resigned as part of pleas in two criminal cases. The once-popular Kilpatrick found himself caught up early in 2008 in a text-messaging sex scandal involving his ex-chief of staff.

Bing also took the top spot an an early November nonpartisan general election and will be mayor for the next four years.