Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.[2] It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008.[3] Clear Channel specializes in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in the United States through its subsidiaries. After 21 years, Mark Mays stepped down as President and CEO of Clear Channel on June 23, 2010.[4] Mays will remain as Chairman of the Board, a position he has held for a year prior. The Board has engaged Egon Zehnder International, a leading executive search firm, to lead the search for a new CEO.
Clear Channel is the largest owner of full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations and twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and is also the largest pure-play radio station owner and operator. The group was in the television business until it sold all of its TV stations to Newport Television in 2008.
The term "clear channel" comes from AM broadcasting, referring to a channel (frequency) on which only one station transmits. In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting history, "clear channel" (or class I-A) stations had exclusive rights to their frequencies throughout most of the continent at night, when AM stations travel very far due to skywave. WOAI in San Antonio, Clear Channel's flagship station, was such a station.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., incorporated in August 1995, provides clients with advertising opportunities through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and other out-of-home advertising displays, such as wallscapes, spectaculars, neons and mall displays, which it owns or operates in key markets globally. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 822,000 advertising displays globally. It provides clients with advertising opportunities through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and other out-of-home advertising displays, such as wallscapes, spectaculars, neons and mall displays, which it owns or operates in key markets globally. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company operated in two reportable business segments: Americas Outdoor Advertising (Americas) and International Outdoor Advertising (International), which represented 46% and 54% of its revenue.
Americas Outdoor Advertising
The Company’s outdoor advertising company in the Americas includes the United States, Canada and Latin America. During 2010, approximately 89% of its revenue in its Americas segment was derived from the United States. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 188,000 displays in its Americas segment and had operations in 49 markets in the United States. Americas Its assets consist of billboards, street furniture and transit displays, airport displays, mall displays, and wallscapes and other spectaculars, which it owns or operates under lease management agreements. Americas’ revenue is derived from the sale of advertising copy placed on its display inventory. Its display inventory consists of billboards, street furniture displays and transit displays. Its Americas segment generates revenues from local, regional and national sales. Its billboard inventory includes bulletins and posters. Bulletins vary in size, with the common size being 14 feet high by 48 feet wide. Posters are available in two sizes, 30-sheet and eight sheet displays. Its street furniture displays, marketed under its global Adshel brand, are advertising surfaces on bus shelters, information kiosks, freestanding units and other public structures, and are located in metropolitan cities and along major commuting routes. It owns the street furniture structures and responsible for their construction and maintenance.
The Company’s transit displays are advertising surfaces on various types of vehicles or within transit systems, including on the interior and exterior sides of buses, trains, trams, and within the common areas of rail stations and airports. Contracts for the right to place its displays on such vehicles or within such transit systems and to sell advertising space on them generally are awarded by public transit authorities in competitive bidding processes or are negotiated with private transit operators. The balance of its display inventory consists of spectaculars, wallscapes and mall displays. Spectaculars are customized display structures that often incorporate video, multidimensional lettering and figures, mechanical devices and moving parts and other embellishments to create special effects. The majority of its spectaculars are located in Times Square in New York City, Dundas Square in Toronto, Fashion Show in Las Vegas, Miracle Mile in Las Vegas and across from the Target Center in Minneapolis. Production work includes creating the advertising copy design and layout, coordinating its printing and installing the copy on displays.
The Company competes with CBS and Lamar Advertising Company.
International Outdoor Advertising
The Company’s International segment includes operations in Asia, Australia and Europe. During 2010, approximately 37% of revenue in this segment derived from France and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 634,000 displays in 29 countries. Its International assets consist of street furniture and transit displays, billboards, mall displays, Smartbike schemes, wallscapes and other spectaculars, which it owns or operates under lease agreements. During 2010, its international segment generated 54% of its revenue in 2010. International revenue is derived from the sale of advertising copy placed on its display inventory. Its International segment generates revenues globally from local, regional and national sales. The sizes of its International billboards are not standardized. The billboards vary in both format and size across its networks. Its International billboards are sold to clients as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks. Long-term client contracts are also available and typically have terms of up to one year. It leases its billboard sites from private landowners. Billboards include its spectacular and neon displays. Defi Group SAS, its International neon subsidiary, is a global provider of neon signs with approximately 318 displays in more than 16 countries globally. Client contracts for International neon displays typically have terms of approximately five years.
The Company’s International street furniture displays are substantially similar to their Americas street furniture counterparts, and include bus shelters, freestanding units, various types of kiosks, benches and other public structures. Internationally, contracts with municipal and transit authorities for the right to place its street furniture in the public domain and sell advertising on such street furniture typically provide for terms ranging from 10 to 15 years. In its International business, municipal contracts require it to provide the municipality with a range of urban amenities, such as bus shelters with or without advertising panels, information kiosks and public wastebaskets, as well as space for the municipality to display maps or other public information. In exchange for providing such urban amenities and display space, it is authorized to sell advertising space on certain sections of the structures it erects in the public domain. Its International street furniture is typically sold to clients as network packages, with contract terms ranging from one to two weeks. Client contracts are also available with terms of up to one year.
The Company’s International transit display contracts are similar to their Americas transit display counterparts. Contracts with public transit authorities or private transit operators typically have terms ranging from three to seven years. Its client contracts for transit displays have terms ranging from one week to one year, or longer. The balance of its revenue from its International segment consists of advertising revenue from mall displays, other small displays and non-advertising revenue from sales of street furniture equipment, cleaning and maintenance services and production revenue. Internationally, its contracts with mall operators generally have terms ranging from 5 to 10 years and client contracts for mall displays generally have terms ranging from one to two weeks, but are available for periods up to six months. Its International inventory includes other small displays that are counted as separate displays. It also has a bike rental program, which provides bicycles for rent to the general public in several municipalities. In exchange for providing the bike rental program, it derives revenue from advertising rights to the bikes, bike stations, additional street furniture displays, or fees from the local municipalities.
The Company’s International markets sell equipment or provide cleaning and maintenance services as part of a billboard or street furniture contract with a municipality. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 634,000 displays in its International segment. Its International clients are advertisers targeting national audiences whose business generally is placed with it through advertising agencies. It outsources the manufacturing of advertising structures to third parties and regularly seek competitive bids. It uses a range of suppliers, located in each of its markets. Its street furniture sites are posted by its own employees or subcontractors who also clean and maintain the sites. The decision to use its own employees or subcontractors is made on a market-by-market basis taking into consideration the mix of products in the market and local labor costs.
In 1994 Clear Channel merged with a Tampa, Florida, competitor named Metroplex Communications. In 1995 the company leaped well beyond its established operating territory when it acquired a 50 percent interest in the Australian Radio Network. By the end of that year, Clear Channel owned 36 radio stations and 10 television stations, which represented a modest increase over the total number of properties it owned in 1993. The figures were deceiving, however, because they did not accurately convey the financial progress the company had made during the two-year period. Annual revenues between 1993 and 1995 exploded from $135 million to $244 million, while the company's net income swelled from $9 million to $32 million.
Because of the strategy employed by Mays, Clear Channel exited 1995 in enviable financial shape and ready to take advantage of a momentous announcement by the FCC. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted national radio ownership restrictions and eased local limitations, touching off a spate of acquisitions for those with the financial wherewithal to acquire broadcasting properties. Clear Channel was one of those companies in a financial position that permitted aggressive expansion and, in fact, was leading the pack. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 took effect in February 1996; by June, Clear Channel had acquired or was in the process of acquiring $581 million worth of radio and television stations. "They're very savvy and they're very focused," one analyst remarked as Clear Channel grew rapidly during the first half of 1996. "All their acquisitions are great, and they have yet to trip up." With 70 radio stations (43 FM, 27 AM) and 16 television stations under its control by June 1996 and 34 more acquisitions pending, the company had ample opportunities to make a mistake, but under the guiding eye of Mays, Clear Channel had moved resolutely forward and emerged from the mid-1990s stronger than ever. The company's history of robust cash-flow growth and its discipline in acquiring stations for bargain prices had investors clamoring for more. Between 1990 and 1996, the company's stock soared from $2.72 a share to a remarkable $73 a share, piquing Wall Street's interest in what the company would do during the late 1990s.
By October 1996, clear Channel owned 121 radio stations and 11 television stations, making it the second-largest radio group in the country behind Westinghouse/CBS. As the company prepared plans for the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, more acquisitions were in the offing. At the beginning of 1997, Mays had more than $1 billion at his disposal for future acquisitions and expressed no desire to slow down in the years ahead. "We're the fastest-growing media company in the country," Mays boasted to Fortune magazine. "We're going to be the acquirer, not the acquiree," he promised.
Clear Channel's progress in 1997 set the tone for the company's course of development in the future. In April, the company acquired Eller Media Company, the oldest and largest billboard operator in the United States with more than 50,000 outdoor display faces in 15 major metropolitan markets. In June, the company acquired a 32 percent interest in Spanish-language broadcaster Heftel Broadcasting Corp., which carried Clear Channel into major metropolitan markets for the first time. "We're trying to consolidate the Spanish broadcasting industry itself," Mays explained, as he formulated plans for developing clusters of Spanish-language stations. In October, the company made its next definitive move, signing an agreement to purchase Universal Outdoor Inc., which added 88,000 outdoor display faces to Clear Channel's billboard holdings and made the company the second-largest outdoor advertiser in the country. On the heels of these forays into Spanish-language broadcasting and into billboards, Mays and the rest of Clear Channel's management scanned the horizon for future acquisition targets, intent on building their company into a formidable giant.
Principal Subsidiaries: Clear Channel Communications of Memphis, Inc.; Clear Channel Television, Inc.; Clear Channel Radio, Inc.; Clear Channel Television Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Radio Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Management, Inc.; Clear Channel Metroplex, Inc.; Clear Channel Metroplex Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Holdings, Inc.; Clear Channel Productions, Inc.; CCC-Houston AM Ltd.; CCR Houston-Nevada, Inc.; Clear Channel Real Estate, Inc.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.88
Market Cap (Mil.): $4,871.95
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 355.88
Annual Dividend: --
Yield (%): --
FINANCIALS
CCO.N Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): -- 6.85 13.51
EPS (TTM): 89.33 -- --
ROI: -1.24 3.44 1.28
ROE: -3.69 3.66 2.13
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1974
Employees: 3,219
Sales: $351.7 million (1997)
Stock Exchanges: New York
SICs: 4832 Radio Broadcasting Stations; 4833 Television Broadcasting Stations; 7312 Outdoor Advertising Services
Name Age Since Current Position
Mays, Mark 47 2011 Chairman of the Board
Casey, Thomas 48 2010 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Cooper, Ronald 54 2009 President and Chief Executive Officer - Americas
Eccleshare, C. William 55 2009 President and Chief Executive Officer - International
Walls, Roberts 50 2010 Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Sisson, Franklin 58 2001 Executive Vice President - Sales and Marketing
Hamilton, Scott 41 2010 Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Assistant Secretary
Bevan, Jonathan 39 2009 Chief Operating Officer - International
Bagan, Joseph 46 2010 Chief Operating Officer, Americas
Kwasniak, W. Chester 51 2009 Chief Financial Officer, Americas
Mays, Randall 45 2010 Director
Covell, Margaret 45 2008 Director
Hendrix, Blair 46 2008 Director
Jones, Daniel 36 2008 Director
Wells, Scott 41 2008 Director
Shields, Marsha 55 2005 Independent Director
Tremblay, Dale 52 2005 Independent Director
Address:
200 Concord Plaza, Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78216
U.S.A.
Clear Channel is the largest owner of full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations and twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and is also the largest pure-play radio station owner and operator. The group was in the television business until it sold all of its TV stations to Newport Television in 2008.
The term "clear channel" comes from AM broadcasting, referring to a channel (frequency) on which only one station transmits. In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting history, "clear channel" (or class I-A) stations had exclusive rights to their frequencies throughout most of the continent at night, when AM stations travel very far due to skywave. WOAI in San Antonio, Clear Channel's flagship station, was such a station.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., incorporated in August 1995, provides clients with advertising opportunities through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and other out-of-home advertising displays, such as wallscapes, spectaculars, neons and mall displays, which it owns or operates in key markets globally. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 822,000 advertising displays globally. It provides clients with advertising opportunities through billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and other out-of-home advertising displays, such as wallscapes, spectaculars, neons and mall displays, which it owns or operates in key markets globally. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company operated in two reportable business segments: Americas Outdoor Advertising (Americas) and International Outdoor Advertising (International), which represented 46% and 54% of its revenue.
Americas Outdoor Advertising
The Company’s outdoor advertising company in the Americas includes the United States, Canada and Latin America. During 2010, approximately 89% of its revenue in its Americas segment was derived from the United States. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 188,000 displays in its Americas segment and had operations in 49 markets in the United States. Americas Its assets consist of billboards, street furniture and transit displays, airport displays, mall displays, and wallscapes and other spectaculars, which it owns or operates under lease management agreements. Americas’ revenue is derived from the sale of advertising copy placed on its display inventory. Its display inventory consists of billboards, street furniture displays and transit displays. Its Americas segment generates revenues from local, regional and national sales. Its billboard inventory includes bulletins and posters. Bulletins vary in size, with the common size being 14 feet high by 48 feet wide. Posters are available in two sizes, 30-sheet and eight sheet displays. Its street furniture displays, marketed under its global Adshel brand, are advertising surfaces on bus shelters, information kiosks, freestanding units and other public structures, and are located in metropolitan cities and along major commuting routes. It owns the street furniture structures and responsible for their construction and maintenance.
The Company’s transit displays are advertising surfaces on various types of vehicles or within transit systems, including on the interior and exterior sides of buses, trains, trams, and within the common areas of rail stations and airports. Contracts for the right to place its displays on such vehicles or within such transit systems and to sell advertising space on them generally are awarded by public transit authorities in competitive bidding processes or are negotiated with private transit operators. The balance of its display inventory consists of spectaculars, wallscapes and mall displays. Spectaculars are customized display structures that often incorporate video, multidimensional lettering and figures, mechanical devices and moving parts and other embellishments to create special effects. The majority of its spectaculars are located in Times Square in New York City, Dundas Square in Toronto, Fashion Show in Las Vegas, Miracle Mile in Las Vegas and across from the Target Center in Minneapolis. Production work includes creating the advertising copy design and layout, coordinating its printing and installing the copy on displays.
The Company competes with CBS and Lamar Advertising Company.
International Outdoor Advertising
The Company’s International segment includes operations in Asia, Australia and Europe. During 2010, approximately 37% of revenue in this segment derived from France and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 634,000 displays in 29 countries. Its International assets consist of street furniture and transit displays, billboards, mall displays, Smartbike schemes, wallscapes and other spectaculars, which it owns or operates under lease agreements. During 2010, its international segment generated 54% of its revenue in 2010. International revenue is derived from the sale of advertising copy placed on its display inventory. Its International segment generates revenues globally from local, regional and national sales. The sizes of its International billboards are not standardized. The billboards vary in both format and size across its networks. Its International billboards are sold to clients as network packages with contract terms typically ranging from one to two weeks. Long-term client contracts are also available and typically have terms of up to one year. It leases its billboard sites from private landowners. Billboards include its spectacular and neon displays. Defi Group SAS, its International neon subsidiary, is a global provider of neon signs with approximately 318 displays in more than 16 countries globally. Client contracts for International neon displays typically have terms of approximately five years.
The Company’s International street furniture displays are substantially similar to their Americas street furniture counterparts, and include bus shelters, freestanding units, various types of kiosks, benches and other public structures. Internationally, contracts with municipal and transit authorities for the right to place its street furniture in the public domain and sell advertising on such street furniture typically provide for terms ranging from 10 to 15 years. In its International business, municipal contracts require it to provide the municipality with a range of urban amenities, such as bus shelters with or without advertising panels, information kiosks and public wastebaskets, as well as space for the municipality to display maps or other public information. In exchange for providing such urban amenities and display space, it is authorized to sell advertising space on certain sections of the structures it erects in the public domain. Its International street furniture is typically sold to clients as network packages, with contract terms ranging from one to two weeks. Client contracts are also available with terms of up to one year.
The Company’s International transit display contracts are similar to their Americas transit display counterparts. Contracts with public transit authorities or private transit operators typically have terms ranging from three to seven years. Its client contracts for transit displays have terms ranging from one week to one year, or longer. The balance of its revenue from its International segment consists of advertising revenue from mall displays, other small displays and non-advertising revenue from sales of street furniture equipment, cleaning and maintenance services and production revenue. Internationally, its contracts with mall operators generally have terms ranging from 5 to 10 years and client contracts for mall displays generally have terms ranging from one to two weeks, but are available for periods up to six months. Its International inventory includes other small displays that are counted as separate displays. It also has a bike rental program, which provides bicycles for rent to the general public in several municipalities. In exchange for providing the bike rental program, it derives revenue from advertising rights to the bikes, bike stations, additional street furniture displays, or fees from the local municipalities.
The Company’s International markets sell equipment or provide cleaning and maintenance services as part of a billboard or street furniture contract with a municipality. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or operated approximately 634,000 displays in its International segment. Its International clients are advertisers targeting national audiences whose business generally is placed with it through advertising agencies. It outsources the manufacturing of advertising structures to third parties and regularly seek competitive bids. It uses a range of suppliers, located in each of its markets. Its street furniture sites are posted by its own employees or subcontractors who also clean and maintain the sites. The decision to use its own employees or subcontractors is made on a market-by-market basis taking into consideration the mix of products in the market and local labor costs.
In 1994 Clear Channel merged with a Tampa, Florida, competitor named Metroplex Communications. In 1995 the company leaped well beyond its established operating territory when it acquired a 50 percent interest in the Australian Radio Network. By the end of that year, Clear Channel owned 36 radio stations and 10 television stations, which represented a modest increase over the total number of properties it owned in 1993. The figures were deceiving, however, because they did not accurately convey the financial progress the company had made during the two-year period. Annual revenues between 1993 and 1995 exploded from $135 million to $244 million, while the company's net income swelled from $9 million to $32 million.
Because of the strategy employed by Mays, Clear Channel exited 1995 in enviable financial shape and ready to take advantage of a momentous announcement by the FCC. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted national radio ownership restrictions and eased local limitations, touching off a spate of acquisitions for those with the financial wherewithal to acquire broadcasting properties. Clear Channel was one of those companies in a financial position that permitted aggressive expansion and, in fact, was leading the pack. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 took effect in February 1996; by June, Clear Channel had acquired or was in the process of acquiring $581 million worth of radio and television stations. "They're very savvy and they're very focused," one analyst remarked as Clear Channel grew rapidly during the first half of 1996. "All their acquisitions are great, and they have yet to trip up." With 70 radio stations (43 FM, 27 AM) and 16 television stations under its control by June 1996 and 34 more acquisitions pending, the company had ample opportunities to make a mistake, but under the guiding eye of Mays, Clear Channel had moved resolutely forward and emerged from the mid-1990s stronger than ever. The company's history of robust cash-flow growth and its discipline in acquiring stations for bargain prices had investors clamoring for more. Between 1990 and 1996, the company's stock soared from $2.72 a share to a remarkable $73 a share, piquing Wall Street's interest in what the company would do during the late 1990s.
By October 1996, clear Channel owned 121 radio stations and 11 television stations, making it the second-largest radio group in the country behind Westinghouse/CBS. As the company prepared plans for the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, more acquisitions were in the offing. At the beginning of 1997, Mays had more than $1 billion at his disposal for future acquisitions and expressed no desire to slow down in the years ahead. "We're the fastest-growing media company in the country," Mays boasted to Fortune magazine. "We're going to be the acquirer, not the acquiree," he promised.
Clear Channel's progress in 1997 set the tone for the company's course of development in the future. In April, the company acquired Eller Media Company, the oldest and largest billboard operator in the United States with more than 50,000 outdoor display faces in 15 major metropolitan markets. In June, the company acquired a 32 percent interest in Spanish-language broadcaster Heftel Broadcasting Corp., which carried Clear Channel into major metropolitan markets for the first time. "We're trying to consolidate the Spanish broadcasting industry itself," Mays explained, as he formulated plans for developing clusters of Spanish-language stations. In October, the company made its next definitive move, signing an agreement to purchase Universal Outdoor Inc., which added 88,000 outdoor display faces to Clear Channel's billboard holdings and made the company the second-largest outdoor advertiser in the country. On the heels of these forays into Spanish-language broadcasting and into billboards, Mays and the rest of Clear Channel's management scanned the horizon for future acquisition targets, intent on building their company into a formidable giant.
Principal Subsidiaries: Clear Channel Communications of Memphis, Inc.; Clear Channel Television, Inc.; Clear Channel Radio, Inc.; Clear Channel Television Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Radio Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Management, Inc.; Clear Channel Metroplex, Inc.; Clear Channel Metroplex Licenses, Inc.; Clear Channel Holdings, Inc.; Clear Channel Productions, Inc.; CCC-Houston AM Ltd.; CCR Houston-Nevada, Inc.; Clear Channel Real Estate, Inc.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.88
Market Cap (Mil.): $4,871.95
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 355.88
Annual Dividend: --
Yield (%): --
FINANCIALS
CCO.N Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): -- 6.85 13.51
EPS (TTM): 89.33 -- --
ROI: -1.24 3.44 1.28
ROE: -3.69 3.66 2.13
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1974
Employees: 3,219
Sales: $351.7 million (1997)
Stock Exchanges: New York
SICs: 4832 Radio Broadcasting Stations; 4833 Television Broadcasting Stations; 7312 Outdoor Advertising Services
Name Age Since Current Position
Mays, Mark 47 2011 Chairman of the Board
Casey, Thomas 48 2010 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Cooper, Ronald 54 2009 President and Chief Executive Officer - Americas
Eccleshare, C. William 55 2009 President and Chief Executive Officer - International
Walls, Roberts 50 2010 Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Sisson, Franklin 58 2001 Executive Vice President - Sales and Marketing
Hamilton, Scott 41 2010 Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Assistant Secretary
Bevan, Jonathan 39 2009 Chief Operating Officer - International
Bagan, Joseph 46 2010 Chief Operating Officer, Americas
Kwasniak, W. Chester 51 2009 Chief Financial Officer, Americas
Mays, Randall 45 2010 Director
Covell, Margaret 45 2008 Director
Hendrix, Blair 46 2008 Director
Jones, Daniel 36 2008 Director
Wells, Scott 41 2008 Director
Shields, Marsha 55 2005 Independent Director
Tremblay, Dale 52 2005 Independent Director
Address:
200 Concord Plaza, Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78216
U.S.A.