U.S. Economy's Primary Job Creators Show Diversity Across Industries

In the August issue on newsstands today, Entrepreneur magazine uncovers the Hot 500 entrepreneurial businesses for 2007, which generated a massive $12.6 billion in 2006 revenue. The Hot 500 marks Entrepreneur's 13th consecutive year of revealing the nation's fastest-growing companies and the entrepreneurs behind them.

By their second year in business, 61% of the Hot 500 companies had turned a profit and 56% had earned their first million. As a whole, they're expected to employ 58,776 individuals by 2008, growing from 2,807 on their first day of business. Savings and personal funds, friends and family, bank loans, lines of credit and private investors were the most common sources of funding for these growing companies.

"For decades, we've recognized that entrepreneurs fuel the U.S. economy as the primary generators of new jobs," says Rieva Lesonsky, senior VP and editorial director of Entrepreneur. "The Hot 500 is our annual ranking of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial businesses. We're proud to salute America's leading entrepreneurial companies, which contribute so much to the nation's and the world's economy."

Entrepreneur compiled the Hot 500 from a database of over 19 million U.S. businesses with the help of the Corporate Research Board, a leading provider of economic and business data, research and information. Criteria for each company included factors such as a minimum level of sales growth, positive job growth from 2002 to 2006, and company sales for 2006 exceeding $1 million.

The Hot 500 companies showed businesses spanning a vast range of industries, as reflected by a look at the top five companies: DivX Inc., a digital media products and services provider; Laurand Associates Inc., an aluminum products importer and distributor; SUNRx Inc., a prescription benefits administrator; Cambria, a natural quartz surfaces producer and fabricator; and Lifted Research Group (L-R-G), a designer of men's and women's clothing.

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Source: Entrepreneur Magazine

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