Orange County companies are losing their shine. The moderate growth in revenue posted by OC’s largest public companies did not help them retain their rankings on the latest Fortune 500 list.
Five OC companies made it to the list this year, same as last year. But four of those companies slipped in the rankings, as their growth lagged the aggregate revenue growth of other companies on the list.
Together, the 50 largest OC companies had sales growth of 4% last year compared with a 13% growth in revenue for the Fortune 500 list (see accompanying story and Special Report: Public Companies, beginning on page 43).
Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc., No. 1 on the Business Journal list (see page 44), came in at No. 49 on the Fortune 500 list, down from No. 41 last year, despite a 9% growth in sales to $30.7 billion in 2000.
OC’s No. 2 public firm, Orange-based Bergen Brunswig Corp., fell on the Fortune list from No. 100 to No. 103 as its sales grew by 5%, a much lower figure than many others in the 500. Fluor Corp. of Aliso Viejo, the No. 4 OC public company that in 2000 was ranked at No. 144 in the Fortune 500 list, fell to No. 175 after a 12% decline in sales.
Privately held Pacific Life Insurance Co., Newport Beach, fell a notch to No. 354 in the Fortune 500 ranking, with $4.9 billion in revenue.
The only company that improved its position on the Fortune list was PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the third-largest OC public company. The Santa Ana-based health maintenance organization posted $11.5 billion in revenue in 2000, up 15%, to move to No. 169 from No. 171.
