The Northwest 87 (Seattle, Bellevue, Renton: sales, buyers, bankruptcy)

[SonicsFan93]

For the first time in the 18 years that the Seattle Times has produced the "Northwest 100" rankings, less than 100 companies qualified to make the list.

Business & Technology | Seattle Times' annual ranking of Northwest companies comes up short of usual top 100 | Seattle Times Newspaper

But there's another, longer-term trend at work, too: Fewer and fewer publicly traded companies are headquartered in Washington, Oregon or Idaho.

A decade ago, nearly 200 Northwest companies were trading on major exchanges; today, there are just 136. Dozens evaporated in the dot-com bust; others, from big names like Safeco, Puget Energy and Immunex to younger tech firms such as Captaris and Advanced Digital Information, have been vacuumed up by larger companies and private-equity firms.

At the same time, the pipeline of new public companies has run dry. Only two Northwest companies, Kirkland-based Clearwire and First Financial Northwest of Renton, have gone public in the past 2 ½ years; as recently as 2004, that many could go public in a week.

So, I'm curious as to what everyone here thinks about this trend. Should we be concerned about this? After all, Forbes ranked Washington State as the 3rd best state to do business last year.

[pw72]

I believe once the economy rebounds, Seattle is well-positioned to again be a new start-up center.

[seattlenextyear]

I read that article in this morning's paper, and the reasoning wasn't that there weren't enough companies to make the list, but they were "downsizing" the list to reflect the nationwide economic climate. 100 is just an arbitrary number, they could easily write about the top 215 companies.

[StealthRabbit]

WA is not a friendly state to be a business owner that has tangible assets, generating tangible products. Nor is is great for marginally profitable companies. (as they won't be marginal AFTER paying Christine's minions)

Vaporware and outsourcing are good businesses to be into in WA. I hope those industries can employ the masses into the future. If not, you might want to expect some property and sales tax increases.

[MaikeerinWA]

100 is arbitrary, but last year, more than 100 companies qualified based on the newspaper's market capitalization criteria. Only 87 did this year, based on the consistent methodology used in prior years.

I can see the stock market turning around, and I agree that Seattle should be a center for future technology innovation when funding for startups becomes available again, but there is no doubt that the Seattle area has taken a painful hit over the past year or so in terms of major, publicly traded corporate headquarters that have been lost, including the likes of Safeco, Getty Images, Puget Sound Energy, and WaMu. Not good.

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

I read that article in this morning's paper, and the reasoning wasn't that there weren't enough companies to make the list, but they were "downsizing" the list to reflect the nationwide economic climate. 100 is just an arbitrary number, they could easily write about the top 215 companies.

[SonicsFan93]

And right when they come out with the Northwest 87, Eddie Bauer files for Chapter 11:

Local News | Eddie Bauer files for bankruptcy protection | Seattle Times Newspaper

Struggling mall retailer Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday but said a bidder already has agreed to keep the majority of its 371 stores open, honor gift cards and hold onto most employees.

Eddie Bauer, known for outdoorsy clothing, said CCMP Capital Advisors LLC has bid $202 million in cash for its assets. Other buyers may also make bids while the company is under court protection.

Bankruptcy rumors had been swirling as Bellevue, Wash.-based Eddie Bauer struggled with slumping sales amid the recession. It reported a loss for the first quarter of $44.5 million as sales fell 16 percent to $179.8 million.