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‘Orange County’s 75 largest private companies saw a decline in revenue last year after five straight years of gains, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The drop came from big revenue slides at the two largest private companies here, as well as declines at the county’s real estate and auto businesses.
Of the 11 companies on the list with $1 billion or more in annual revenue, only two reported higher 2008 sales. Four reported lower revenue, two were flat and three were Business Journal estimates.
The 5% revenue decline for all companies on the list actually could be steeper, as figures for 33 companies on the list are Business Journal estimates. We tend to be conservative when estimating figures up or down.
The largest 75 companies, made up of real estate, technology, service and other businesses, also saw declines in employment, with a sharper drop locally.
OC employment in these companies dropped 5% to 37,262 in the past 12 months,on par with that seen at all local businesses, according to the most recently available figures.
In March, versus a year earlier, the county’s businesses lost 71,900 jobs, a 4.8% decline.
Companywide employment at the county’s largest private companies fell 2% to 169,606.
No. 1 Newport Beach-based Pacific life insurance Co. retained its longstanding spot atop the list,but just barely.
The seller of life insurance reported $4.01 billion in 2008 revenue, $10 million more than No. 2 Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co.
The spread is the smallest ever seen on the list.
A year ago, Pacific Life, which also offers annuities and other investments for individuals, businesses and pension plans, saw about $500 million more in revenue than Kingston did.
For 2008, Pacific Life’s revenue fell 21%, or more than $1 billion, by far the biggest decline by dollar amount on the list.
Besides being hurt by the recession, Pacific Life’s accounting practices require it to recognize investment losses in its revenue.
In November, Pacific Life released details of its investments,a rare move,to reassure its policyholders that it’s well capitalized.
It saw write-downs of about $183 million,about a half percent of its total investments,for the 12 months through September on its bonds and stocks, the company said.
The company’s losses likely continued through the rest of 2008 as Wall Street melted down in October and November.
Its investments included stakes in American International Group Inc., Merrill Lynch
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