Welcome to the NorthBay biz Top 500 bonus issue. The magazine began publishing this list of the top revenue-producing companies in 1991 as the Sonoma Business 350. In 1997, in response to the growth in Sonoma County, this issue was expanded, and it became the Sonoma Business 500. Now this special issue, in its 18th year, is celebrating its sixth as the NorthBay biz 500, reflecting the magazine’s expansion into Marin and Napa counties in November of 2002. Due to its specialized nature, it doesn’t contain the normal complement of stories and features. However, it does include: By the Numbers, Quick Takes, Biz Tips, Green Scene, Beyond the Boardroom and all our long-established and new columnists.
Several years ago, we decided to publish the Top 500 as a bonus issue. So now it comes out between the February (Green Business) and March (Building & Construction) issues. In addition to being delivered to all our subscribers, the NorthBay biz Top 500 will be available at the newsstands for the entire year—effectively extending its shelf life so it can be a resource to more people and businesses throughout the year. We also publish two other bonus issues during the year. The Best Of the North Bay edition publishes in May and the Wine/Harvest Fair edition in October. That’s how a monthly magazine manages to print 15 issues annually.
In 2007, the news was dominated by the early start of campaigning for the 2008 Presidential elections, a worsening of the housing slump driven by the subprime mortgage fiasco, a “surge” strategy that has proven successful enough to take the war in Iraq off the front pages and the continuing debate on the best methods to end illegal immigration into the country. However, despite the uncertainties that come with war and the continued high cost of energy, 2007 saw the nation’s overall economy continue to expand for the fourth year in a row.
The previous three-year retreat—brought about by the dot-com collapse, corporate scandals and the terrorist attack on our own soil—are now, thankfully, long behind us. The stock market responded with the DOW surpassing the 14,000 mark and the NASDAQ reaching above the 2,800 level in October 2007, before their recent drops in January of 2008. The housing market’s yearly double-digit appreciation came to a screeching halt in 2007 and dropped into negative territory in more than half the communities in the North Bay. Some experts predict market stability by the spring and then a slow return to a growing market beginning this fall. Overall, the North Bay’s diverse economy continued to prove resilient during 2007. Recession worries cloud the economic outlook for 2008, although with continued low unemployment and controlled inflation, those fears stand a good chance of never materializing.
While the overall business climate in 2007 had a few bright spots, it also had many severe challenges, making for a very competitive environment. So we’d like to congratulate each company that made this year’s Top 500 list. It took creativity and courage to make the difficult decisions that resulted in positioning each company for success.
We strive to make the NorthBay biz Top 500 list as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Our database has really grown and improved over the past six years as we’ve migrated to assembling more information online, simplifying the process and enhancing accuracy.
Some companies provide their revenue numbers as estimates because their fiscal years are incomplete. We report those numbers as verified because the company supplied them. When the company can’t or won’t divulge revenues, we estimate based on history, research and comparative industry data. If a company is headquartered here, we count all its revenues. If a company does business here but is headquartered elsewhere, we count only its North Bay-generated revenue. Six zeros have been omitted from all the revenue numbers on the list because of space constraints. Therefore the first four companies on this year’s list reported revenues in the billions, and every other company reported revenues in the millions. And finally, because of available space restrictions, we were unable to publish every company profile that was submitted. We will post the complete set of Top 500 company profiles on our website. We work hard on this issue to make it as complete and accurate as possible. If you discover any inaccuracies, or if we’ve overlooked a company that merits inclusion, please let us know and we’ll correct it for the future. The Top 500 list will be posted on our website (www.northbaybiz.com) and you can contact us there if you have any input about this year’s list.
We certainly hope you enjoy perusing the Top 500 and find it interesting, informative and useful in running your business. The North Bay possesses tremendous economic power and vitality, and with a little luck and continued hard work, let’s hope 2008 turns out to be a good year for us all.
That’s it for now. We hope you enjoy this special bonus issue of NorthBay biz magazine.
