Apr. 24--The nation's economic ailments sapped the financial vitality of the biggest public companies in the East Bay and the Bay Area in 2008, causing red ink to infect the finances of more companies.

That grim assessment arises from this newspaper's annual survey of the largest public companies in the nine-county Bay Area and the East Bay.

"This is an extremely serious downturn by any measure," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. "This is the most severe recession since World War II."

In 2008, 25 of the 50 largest public companies in the Alameda County-Contra Costa County-Solano County region lost money, according to this newspaper's East Bay 50 list for 2008. That's up from 42 percent, or 21 out of 50, that failed to reach the break-even mark in 2007.

"The downturn has become pervasive through every part of the economy," Michael said. "There really isn't a safe haven at all."

A similar erosion emerged in the Bay Area.

During 2008, 38.5 percent, or 77 of the 200 largest public companies in the Bay Area lost money. That's a big jump from the 27.5 percent, or 55 out of 200, that lost money during 2007.

"With this economy, you would expect revenues to slow and profits to fall," said Jon Haveman, an economist and partner with Beacon Economics.

Revenues continued to rise in the Bay Area for the 200 biggest public companies during 2008 compared

with 2007.

However, the rate of the increase for revenues in 2008 slowed markedly compared with the revenue gain during 2007, according to an analysis of the sales trends.

In 2008, the average revenue for the 200 largest Bay Area companies was $5.18 billion. That was 8 percent higher than 2007.

But in 2007, the average revenue of $4.79 billion for the Bay Area 200 was 10 percent higher than the 2006 average of $4.36 billion.

Profits shriveled in the Bay Area, the survey showed.

During 2008, the average profit for the Bay Area 200 was $284 million. That was down 30 percent from the $405 million profit average for 2007.

"The economy is getting weaker and the weakness will extend into all of 2009," Haveman said. "We don't expect any improvement until sometime in 2010."

The largest company in the Bay Area and the East Bay was Chevron Corp. The energy giant has consistently perched atop the standings following its purchases of Texaco and Unocal.

San Ramon-based Chevron generated $255.11 billion in revenues in 2008, up 25 percent from 2007.