ven accounting for inflation over thirty-eight years, the Top 49ers have shown incredible growth. In 1985 the combined revenue of all Top 49ers was $2.7 billion, worth about $7.8 billion in today’s dollars. That approximates the combined gross revenue of this year’s #1 and #2 by themselves.

The first #1, Carr-Gottstein Foods, reported $335 million in gross revenue, or just over $1 billion adjusted for inflation. On this year’s list, five companies earned more.

The inaugural Top 49ers covered a broader variety of industry sectors compared to the ranks today, which are dominated by Alaska Native corporations. Two major disruptions explain the change. First, Alaska Native corporations have grown to contain diverse business lines on their own. Second, after the 1985 economic crash, nine of the original 49ers dropped out, never to be seen again.

Of the first class of Top 49ers, ten appear on the 2023 list. Overall, six companies have exactly the same rank as in 2022. Others have made big moves in terms of revenue: Vitus Energy reports 2022 gross revenues 80 percent higher than 2021, and Udelhoven Oilfield System Services, Colville, and Koniag report revenues 57.7 percent, 54.6 percent, and 50.7 percent higher, respectively.

Overall revenue growth among all Top 49ers is a continuing trend, though the biggest growth year over year was reported in 1990, with 37.7 percent, nearly matched by 2006’s 36 percent.

More math: divide total revenue of all 2023 Top 49ers by total number of all of their employees, and the average figure is comparable to the productivity of each worker at Olgoonik, nearly smack-dab in the middle of the ranking.

This edition of Alaska Trends crunches more data collected from our annual Top 49ers survey.