CIRI's 2000 year-end net income exceeded the $100 million mark, reaching $102.4 million. This is a 78 percent increase from the $57.4 million reported at the end of 1999. It is also the ninth consecutive year of increasing profitability for the corporation.
The corporation's 2000 gross revenues grew to $379 million, up from $297 million in 1999, while its total assets grew from $989 million at the end of 1999 to more than $1.2 billion at the end of 2000.

"This is by far the largest year of growth in the company's history," said Carl Marrs, CIRI president and CEO. "While we've been successful with a diversified portfolio of investments, we've had extraordinary success with our telecommunications partnerships and were able to capitalize on a portion of them."

In 2000, CIRI divested its interests in BellSouth Carolinas PCS, a telecommunications partnership in North and South Carolina. The company also exchanged some of its joint venture interests with VoiceStream Wireless Corp., becoming a significant VoiceStream shareholder.

The company's business success, coupled with financing transactions entered into in 2000, enabled CIRI to pay to shareholders in December the largest distribution ever paid by a Native regional corporation. Other lines of business, such as real estate operations and construction services, contributed positively to CIRI's 2000 performance as well. In addition, CIRI's tourism subsidiary is a maturing business that CIRI believes will become a shining success in the future.

"The year 2000 was truly a momentous one, and we look forward to continuing the corporation's business success for our shareholders," Marrs added.

The following is excerpted from a March 14, 2001, Anchorage Daily News article announcing CIRI's 2000 gains and look to the future.

Cook Inlet Region, Inc. expects last year's profit to exceed $100 million, the largest ever posted by an Alaska Native corporation. . . . The company made headlines in December when it paid out $314 million in special dividends-$ 50,000 for a typical shareholder-a few days after Christmas based on a windfall it made with its Lower 48 telecom investments. It was the largest single dividend ever paid by a regional Alaska Native corporation. . . . The company expects to remain on a strong growth path, Marrs said, and it recently appointed Dr. Terry Simpson as board chairman, replacing Robert Woodhead, to further that goal. Simpson was head of the board's finance and investment committee and his appointment demonstrates the company's commitment to further investment growth, Marrs said.

- Anchorage Daily News, March 14, 2001

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