The requested URL /discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1144493 was not found on this server.On Friday, Starwood Hotels agreed to be acquired by Anbang, a Chinese insurance company that is rapidly buying up U.S. hotels, for over $13 billion. Marriott, which had previously made a deal to buy Starwood, is reportedly considering a counter bid. But it’s unlikely that Marriott will be able win a bidding war with the Chinese insurer, which was originally bankrolled by state-owned enterprises and has a war chest of cash filled up by Chinese investors eager for returns. If it goes through, the Starwood deal would be the largest acquisition ever of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm. Recently, Chinese firms have been on a buying spree. This year, Chinese firms have spent $103 billion on acquisitions of foreign firms, not just in the U.S. That’s nearly as much in two and a half months as the $107 billion that Chinese firms spent on foreign purchases in all of last year, which itself was a record.

Here are the biggest U.S. firms to be swallowed, or are soon to be swallowed, by a Chinese company, according to Dealogic. Deal size: $14.3 billion Date (announced): March 14, 2016 It is the latest hotel acquisition by the Chinese insurer, which last year bought the company that owns New York’s Waldorf-Astoria. Also this week, Anbang announced its was buying a number of hotels owned by Blackstone. Starwood would add 1,300 hotels around the world to Anbang’s portfolio. Deal size: $7.1 billion Date: May 29, 2013 At the time of the deal, Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, wrote, “Some people saw the move by Shuanghui, a private firm based in Henan, as a masterstroke to expand its ability to supply a fast-growing market with premium-brand pork at higher prices. Some view the purchase as a means to acquire valuable hog-farming and processing technology. Others worry that Shuanghui might use Smithfield as a channel to sell its products in the U.S.”

Deal size: $6.3 billion Acquirer: Tianjin Tianhai Investement Development Co. Date (announced): February 17, 2016 No. 62 on the Fortune 500, Ingram Micro agreed earlier this year to be bought by a Chinese firm that specializes in aviation and logistics.Big Rig T Shirt 4) General Electric Appliance BusinessNike Golf Shoes Junior Deal size: $5.4 billionThailand Wedding Dress Makers Acquirer: Qingdao Haier Co. Date (announced): January 15, 2016 General Electric had stumbled in its bid to sell off its appliance division after the U.S. government said it would try to block a deal for the division to be bought by Electrolux. Instead, GE backed out of that deal and struck a new one with China-based Qingdao Haier.

Earlier this month, U.S. regulators said they had completed a review of the new deal with no comment. Acquirer: Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science Date (announced): January 26, 2016 The 83-year-old Connecticut-based company makes machinary for construction, agricultural, and industrial purposes. Deal size: $3.5 billion Date (announced): January 12, 2016 It is the largest China-Hollywood deal to date. Legendary has co-financed a number of major movies, like Jurassic Park and Straight Outta Compton. A number of the company’s movies, like Godzilla and Pacific Rim, have done well in China. Deal size: $3.1 billion Date: January 12, 2014 Computer maker Lenovo consolidated its phone business with Motorola’s. The new handsets will go by the brand “Moto.” Lenovo has downsized Motorola’s old business and implemented layoffs. But some of the division’s lower priced phones have sold well. Deal size: $2.6 billion Date: May 20, 2012 When Dalian bought AMC, it was the U.S.’s second largest movie chain.

But a $1.1 billion acquisition announced earlier this month of Carmike Cinemas has moved AMC into the No. 1 spot.It's no secret U.S. companies save billions of dollars by doing business overseas. A recent Senate investigation revealed Apple paid a 2 percent tax on $74 billion in income by channelling profits through its offshore subsidiaries. And last month's tragic factory collapse in Bangladesh was a bleak reminder that some of America's most iconic brands rely on labor overseas to produce cheap clothes. But offshore certainly isn't the only way to go. This week Motorola Mobility, owned by Google, became the latest company to bring manufacturing, and hence jobs, back home with plans to open a plant in Texas, the Washington Post reports. The move, which will create around 2,000 jobs, will make it easier for engineers to make design tweaks as well as allow for faster shipping, proving there are more reasons for companies to bring jobs home than just good publicity. Indeed, over 50,000 jobs have been "reshored," as it's called, in the past three years, according to Harry Moser, president of the Reshoring Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to showing some U.S. companies the benefits of doing business at home.

He says altruism has little to do with why most companies end up returning manufacturing to the states. "When companies actually sit down and take a hard look at the numbers they often realize that they failed to take into account all the costs of doing business offshore.," Moser told The Huffington Post over the phone. "When they take things like inventory carrying cost, quality control, impact on innovation and protection of intellectual property into account, for example, they realize it's sometimes better to keep things at home." For the reasons Moser points out -- as well as factors such as rising production costs in China -- big name companies like Nissan and Caterpillar have brought thousands of jobs back home. Still, the economic realities of producing in countries with more relaxed labor laws, like less strict worker safety standards or a lower minimum wage, means companies can still save a lot by going overseas. And even Moser is aware that there's a long way to go before reshoring becomes the norm.