Metrofactual

Though the global economic galaxies are aswirl, Oregon stars are rising.

When Fortune released its annual public company rankings last month, Precision Castparts (no. 444) garnered a deserved round of hurrahs for its debut, having joined Oregon’s other Fortune 500 company, Nike (no. 153).

It wasn’t the only good showing. Of the six Oregon companies that now rank among the Fortune 1000, each rose from its last-year placement.

Among them, shining like the metals it recycles, was Schnitzer Steel, Oregon’s 102-year-old scrap metal recycler, which made the biggest jump, from no. 901 to no. 757, with revenues of $2.6 billion.

And Schnitzer continues to rise. In Q2 of fiscal year ’08, revenues increased 24% and profits 29%. Q3 looks even brighter. Shares have gone up 8% this year.

“The scrap metal business hasn’t looked this good in years,” notes Barron’s blogger Bob O’Brien. “You know you’re in a rising commodity environment when even junk has gotten expensive.”
Metrofactual Department of Kudos
Beer.We know about all about greater Portland’s prolific brewpubs (Metrofactual v.7). Now here’s big news about their brews: They’re really good. That’s what judges concluded at last week’s 2008 World Beer Cup, where greater Portland breweries claimed more medals (nine) than those of any other city in the world.
With nearly 3,000 beers vying for recognition, Bridgeport, Hopworks, Pyramid, Widmer and Laurelwood brews were among the 268 that took home awards.

Bikes. The League of American Cyclists has blessed greater Portland with the coveted platinum rating as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” – the first large U.S. metro to gain the designation.
The award is a big precious-metal step up from the gold we received in 2003.
“Bold leadership, community-wide involvement, and a lot of hard work have resulted in a 144% increase in bicycle use since the 2000 Census – impressive results by any standard,” says League president Andy Clarke.

Buddies. When Metrofactual welcomed Vidoop here a few weeks back, the Tulsa computer-password software firm was bringing an engineering group to Portland. Now the whole of Vidoop is pulling up its Oklahoma stakes and heading for a new home in Portland’s Old Town.
With eROI sharing its building, Jive Software a few blocks away, and greater Portland’s 13,420 software workers to make them feel at home, Vidoop’s transition should be an easy one. Check them out. Or go find them hanging at Backspace coffee shop.