THE RISING STARS OF ALASKA BUSINESS.

• Author: KANE, ROGER
• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

The leading 11 Top 49ers for the Year 2000 reported gross revenues in excess of $100 million in 1999, but five of them posted negative growth. In addition, they are not alone in their recession.

All tolled, 16 of the Top 49ers reported 1999 revenues in decline from 1998 levels. At the same time revenues were decreasing for some of the Top 49ers, the opposite proved true for some of the smaller companies that did not make the list.

Those underachievers outpaced the Top 49ers' 11.3 percent rate of growth in 1999 with average revenue increases of 18.74 percent. In addition to realizing a higher percentage of change in their revenues last year than larger corporations, smaller companies seem to be closing the gap between the first and 49th spots on the Top 49ers list.

The top revenue amount for 1999 was .23 percent less than it was in 1998, while the value of the 49th spot rose 29 percent. Also on the rise is the average revenue required to make the Top 49ers list. Between 1992 and 1995, the average was $11.2 million. For the four-year period ending in 1999, that average rose to $16.95 million.

Two companies, Ghemm Co. and New Horizons Telecom, beat the average this year, only to find themselves occupying the 50th and 51st spots respectively.

Despite posting gross revenues of $18 million in 1999, Ghemm was edged from the 2000 Top 49ers' list by Anchorage's Alaska Steel Co., which took in $19.4 million last year. New Horizons also had a good...