Past Northwest 100 winners | Where are they now?

For some companies, topping the Northwest 100 was just a hint of bigger things to come; for others, it marked the high point of their corporate lives. Here's a look back and an update on 17 years' worth of past winners:

1991: Microsoft

During the 1990s, the little software company from Redmond was the premier growth company in the country.

1992: Microsoft

Despite its continued success, threats today to Microsoft's domination of the desktop are coming thick and fast: Google, Apple and Linux all represent different challenges. And Microsoft these days is looking less like an enchanted millionaire factory and more like other big corporations: In 2009, it imposed its first mass layoffs and issued its first long-term debt.

1993: Wholesome & Hearty Foods

The Portland maker of Gardenburgers renamed itself after its main product in 1997, and briefly rode a wave of interest in meatless products and healthful living. Ultimately, though, it was too small and too indebted to compete against deep-pocketed food giants; Kellogg has owned it since 2007.

1994: Micron Technology

The first Idaho company to top the Northwest 100, semiconductor maker Micron initially was backed by potato king J.R. Simplot.

1995: Micron Technology

Despite diversification efforts, Micron still relies on its main products, dynamic random-access memory and flash-memory chips -- and prices for those have plunged during the worldwide recession. Last year, Micron lost more than $1.6 billion; just in the first half of its current fiscal year, it's lost almost $1.5 billion. The company plans to cut 15 percent of its global workforce this year and next.

1996: Olympic Cascade Financial

The parent of Seattle-based brokerage National Securities now is known as National Holdings and headquartered in New York. Its stock was delisted in 2004 and now trades on the OTC Bulletin Board. On the plus side, last year the company merged with Florida-based vFinance, another small financial-services firm, and arbitrators dismissed fraud allegations against the current CEO by his predecessor.

1997: Radisys

The Hillsboro, Ore., company, which makes media servers and communications-networking equipment, has shifted away from custom-designed products toward "standards-based" ones. But the going has been rough: Last year RadiSys lost $66 million -- its third annual loss in a row -- even as sales grew to $373 million.

1998: Labor Ready

The Tacoma temporary-help company has undergone considerable change since its win a decade ago. For one thing, it's now known as TrueBlue, to better reflect its blue-collar orientation. It's also acquired a string of specialty competitors, most recently Personnel Management (light industrial) and TLC Services Group (trucking). But the recession has cut into demand for temporary labor: TrueBlue lost $4.2 million last year and closed a net 44 branch offices.

1999: Lithia Motors

From its home in Medford, Ore., this auto retailer has expanded across the West and Midwest, but the slump in auto sales has taken a heavy toll on the company's ambitions. Lithia is down to 92 stores in 13 states from Alaska to Iowa, versus 109 stores in 15 states a year ago. With the major automakers jettisoning brands and shedding dealerships to survive, Lithia's empire likely will get even smaller.

2000: Advanced Digital Information Corp.

The Redmond data-storage company, known as ADIC, got a sweet reward for surviving the tech wreck earlier this decade: In 2006 it was bought by San Jose, Calif.-based Quantum for $770 million.

2001: Metro One Telecommunications

Yet another case of a NW100 winner falling on hard times. The Beaverton, Ore., company never really recovered from the collapse of the telecom bubble early this decade; it has lost money every quarter since mid-2003. After most of its directory-assistance customers went elsewhere, Metro One shut down that business and pinned its remaining hopes on becoming, essentially, a call center for hire. Its stock was delisted last September, and earlier this year it deregistered its stock entirely -- effectively going private.

2002: Flir Systems

This Portland company has succeeded by mastering a single technology -- infrared imaging -- and finding more and more applications for it, from night-vision cameras used by the military to home-inspection devices used by suburbanites.

2003: Flir Systems

The NW100's third repeat winner. Flir has continued to prosper, though not without a few bumps along the way: After the backdated-options scandal broke, a company investigation found that options granted between 1995 and 2000 -- under previous management -- had been improperly dated. Flir settled four of five shareholder lawsuits stemming from the backdating scandal and took a $14.3 million noncash charge to account for the suspect options.

2004: Barrett Business Services

Several years ago, this temporary-help company headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., expanded into outsourced human-resource management -- essentially letting clients save money by piggybacking on Barrett's lower workers' compensation costs. Last year, that "sideline" business brought in nearly 45 percent of Barrett's $280.5 million in revenues.

2005: PW Eagle

The Eugene, Ore., maker of plastic pipes built itself into a nationwide presence though a series of acquisitions; its size came in handy when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita squeezed supplies of plastic resin. But activist hedge funds pressed for PW Eagle to sell itself to the highest bidder.

2006: PW Eagle The NW100's fourth repeat winner, PW Eagle was in some ways a victim of its own success: In 2007 rival J-M Manufacturing bought it out for about $400 million.

2007: Hecla Mining

Soaring silver prices helped push this Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, mining company to the top of last year's ranking. But as silver prices tumbled last fall, so did Hecla's fortunes: The company lost $66.6 million last year, and its stock fell below $2 -- disqualifying it from this year's ranking.