Alaska has received $1.2 billion from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and the Small Business Administration has released the names of those that got the biggest share.
High-profile, established companies made the list, as did hundreds of smaller businesses that usher oil from the ground and keep Alaskans fed, housed and moving.
A dozen Alaska companies got $5 million to $10 million apiece: half of them are subsidiaries of Alaska Native Corporations, three are privately owned oilfield and industrial support companies, two run hospitals and one owns a telecom system.
South Peninsula Hospital spokeswoman Derotha Ferraro said the Homer facility got $6.3 million. She said it was a lifeline when the Homer hospital was facing a drastic loss of revenue because of the pandemic and mandates to stop providing many services.
“We’re kind of like the greatest example of the purpose of the Payroll Protection Program. And that’s to keep critical infrastructure, small businesses alive in the rural areas in the local communities,” she said.
With PPP money, the hospital didn’t have to lay off any of its nearly 500 employees, she said.
Other big recipients of Payroll Protection Program money include JL Properties, a real estate development company in Anchorage. It is owned by two of Alaska’s wealthiest men, Jonathan Rubini and Leonard Hyde. Their firm landed between $2 million and $5 million, as did a wide range of other employers: Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and Grant Aviation.
Recipients of $1 million to $2 million include medical clinics, car dealerships and construction companies, as well as the Anchorage Daily News, law firm Birch Horton Bittner and Cherot, Ryan Air and Huna Totem Corp.
Churches and affiliated nonprofits have received Payroll Protection Program money, too: Anchorage Baptist Temple Inc., Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop of Anchorage, Catholic Schools of Fairbanks and Grace Community Church.
Alaska Public Media received $627,000 from the program, according to CEO Ed Ulman. KTOO received a portion of the CoastAlaska loan of $719,060.
In all, more than 11,000 Alaska entities have received the federal loans. They convert to grants if spent on payroll and other business expenses.
About 85% of Alaska’s recipients got less than $150,000, and the SBA did not provide their names. Some got just a few hundred.
