ABM’s Top 49ers: Business Blockbusters 
Lights. Camera. Action.

Or maybe a drum-roll please.
The Business Blockbusters have arrived.

    At the 20^th annual Top 49ers presentation, this year held Oct. 4 at the Egan Civic and Convention Center, the state’s Top 49 Alaskan-owned and -operated businesses were honored. Special recognition went to the eight companies that have made the list for 20 consecutive years, ever since its inception in 1985. These companies, featured prominently on our cover, are Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Bristol Bay Native Corp., Cook Inlet Region Inc., First National Bank Alaska, NANA Regional Corp. Inc., Seekins Ford Lincoln Mercury Inc., Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. and VECO Corporation. A complete listing of the 161 companies that have been on the list over the past 20 years begins on page 87.

    Of those 161, 61 have gone out of business, changed names, merged with other companies, or moved elsewhere to do business. Many of the remaining have graced our list time and time again over the years.

    To be a Top 49er, a business has to be an Alaskan-owned (51 percent or greater) business. This year, the minimum revenue requirement was $26.15 million. Top 49ers employ more than 15,400 workers and have total gross revenues of $4.9 billion.

    The bulk of the list, a whopping 43 percent, is comprised of Native organizations that combined employed more than 7,300 individuals in 2003 and had revenues totaling $2.05 billion. Barrow-based Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which has been No. 1 on the list for 10 consecutive years, brought in the most revenues at $1.3 billion. This is the third year it has topped the list with revenues greater than $1 billion.

    Coming in second this year is Chugach Alaska Corp. with revenues of $547 million. This Native corporation was ranked fifth last year and sixth the year prior.

    Out of the Top 10, six were Native corporations, five of them regional corporations. Doing especially well this year, as in past years, is Chenega Corp., a village corporation that saw revenues double in 2003 from $117 million to $234 million. In 2002, its revenues increased by 169 percent. In 2001, its revenues increased by 70 percent.

    Showing the most growth for 2003, a whopping 148 percent, was Native regional corporation Doyon Ltd., which increased revenues from $56.9 million in 2002 to $141 million in 2003. It ranks 13^th on the list. Another business showing terrific growth is Watterson Construction Co., which increased revenues by 114 percent to $62 million. Watterson ranks 27^th.

    New to the list this year, or returning after a brief absence, is Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union (47^th place), Denali State Bank (8^th position), Furniture Enterprises of Alaska (46^th place), Golden Valley Electric Association (16^th position), Sealaska Corp. (10^th place) and Tatonduk Outfitters Ltd. (48^th position).

    The Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector had the second highest revenue total at $744 million. It made up 16.31 percent of the 49ers and employed more than 2,700 in 2003. The transportation industry, making up 12.48 percent of the 49ers list, had combined 2003 revenues of $607 million and employed 1,376.

    Glance over the next 35 pages to learn more about these outstanding companies that made the list this year and in years past. To Alaska’s Business Blockbusters, we salute you.

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