Some facts behind the stats

The deflation of the U.S. housing boom was bad news for companies such as HouseValues (101st place in this year's Northwest 100 ranking), while the semiconductor business went into another of its periodic down cycles and took several Northwest companies (Micron Technology, 115; Lattice Semiconductor, 104; and Cascade Microtech, 113) with it.

Amazon.com flies to the top tier of this year's ranking, landing in the No. 5 spot. A year ago, the Seattle e-tailer ranked 124th, missing the top 100 altogether. It made its last appearance on the top 100 list in 2005, ranking 42nd.

Six companies cracked the top 100 this year: Zumiez , 11; MWI Veterinary Supply, 31; Cardiac Science, 37, returning three years after one of its predecessor companies, Quinton Cardiology, last appeared; SeaBright Insurance, 47; Expedia, 53, which last made the top 100 in 2003; and Getty Images, 94, which ranked 20th in 2006 but fell to the lower reaches last year.

A spate of mergers and acquisitions in 2007 bumped several of last year's Northwest 100 companies out of contention. They included: No. 1 PW Eagle, bought by J-M Manufacturing; No. 3 aQuantive, bought by Microsoft; First Mutual Bancshares, 40, bought by Washington Federal; Cascade Natural Gas, 58, bought by MDU Resources; Washington Group International, 67, bought by URS; Cost-U-Less, 83, bought by North West Co.; Longview Fibre, 90, taken private by Brookfield Asset Management; and Tektronix, 96, bought by Danaher.