North Texas' publicly traded companies decline

DALLAS, TX Jim Oberwetter, president of the Dallas Regional Chamber, tells The Dallas Morning News, "If it's a one- or two-year thing, it's not a concern. If what we're seeing is a real trend, then it's something to be concerned about."

The region featured 200-plus publicly traded companies in the newspaper's annual list as recently as 2005. This year's edition tracks 131, down from 137 a year ago.

Oberwetter says that what matters more than the number of firms based here is how many jobs come from the companies.