Paris-based JCDecaux has declared itself “the largest outdoor advertising company in the world.” And it has the numbers to prove it, bumping Clear Channel Outdoor back to the #2 position.
“It all started in 1964 when Jean-Claude Decaux, our founder and today Chairman of JCDecaux’s Supervisory Board, installed his first advertising bus shelters in Lyon driven by his vision of city beautification financed through advertising revenues at no cost to the municipalities and taxpayers. A new advertising medium was born and, since then, the JCDecaux team has successfully transformed a French local outdoor media company into one of the few global media owners, now in 56 countries around the world, for the benefit of all its stakeholders,” said Executive Board Chairman and co-CEO Jean-Charles Decaux.
For 2010 JCDecaux reported total revenues of $3.12 billion (2.35 billion euros). Just a few days earlier Clear Channel Outdoor reported 2010 revenues of $2.8 billion.
JCDecaux officials have frequently stated publicly their desire to acquire either Clear Channel Outdoor or CBS Outdoor, the two biggest players in the United States. There’s no indication, though, that the overtures have been met with interest from the other side.
