List Leaders: Meet the 5 biggest private companies in Oregon and S.W. Washington

Brandon Sawyer^[1]

Research Director- Portland Business Journal

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.^[2]

Publicly traded companies get lots of attention because of their constant publicity effort to raise stock prices and financial disclosure requirements making it easy to get the goods on them.

Private companies, on the other hand, often fly below the radar and are less-inclined to toot their own horns^[3]. That's why it's so exciting (and so difficult) to find out who our local heavyweight private companies really are.

In the top five, last year's No. 2 company climbs to No. 1 and the No. 5 company is new to the list. The gallery is your ticket to find out more.

The List: Click on the picture above to see a gallery of the Oregon and S.W. Washington^[4]'s 5 largest private companies. Paid subscribers can access the full list below.

Here in Oregon and Southwest Washington, public companies are a dwindling herd, while private companies carry most of the weight in terms of jobs and revenues. Malia Spencer^[5]'s story in this week's issue explains how many private-company CEOs think IPOs are overrated^[6].

Most of the private companies we surveyed, 76 percent, expect to stay put and stay private in the next five years. And most are growing at a healthy clip. They only predict a 2.5 percent chance of going public. Therefore, we should devote a little less time to action on the stock exchanges and get better acquainted with these large private companies right in our own backyard.

References

1. ^{^} Brandon Sawyer (feeds.bizjournals.com)
2. ^{^} This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)
3. ^{^} are less-inclined to toot their own horns (www.bizjournals.com)
4. ^{^} S.W. Washington (feeds.bizjournals.com)
5. ^{^} Malia Spencer (feeds.bizjournals.com)
6. ^{^} think IPOs are overrated (www.bizjournals.com)