Craig McCaw

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For other persons named Craig McCaw, see Craig McCaw (disambiguation).
Craig McCaw

Craig McCaw (b. August 11, 1949 in Centralia, Washington) is the second of four sons of Marion and John Elroy McCaw. The Seattle-area businessman and entrepreneur achieved success as a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular (now part of AT&T Mobility) and Clearwire Corporation.


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[edit] Youth and the cable TV industry

McCaw's father J. Elroy was a broadcasting magnate, in the business of buying and selling TV and radio stations which brought in wealth, but also incurred significant debts. In the 1960s, Elroy McCaw had entered the cable television realm, and his four sons worked as linemen and door-to-door salesmen.

When McCaw's father died, the only company not sold to repay the debt was the small Centralia cable company (est. 2-4K subscribers), which was in trust. After his senior year at Stanford, Craig took the helm of the cable company and set out to rebuild his family name. Craig McCaw used the cash flows from his growing cable company to purchase other remote cable companies, and turned the resulting conglomerate profitable. By the 1980s, McCaw Cable Vision was the 20th largest cable carrier in the United States.

[edit] Cellular telephone industry

When the FCC held a lottery for cellular licenses in the early 1980s, many ordinary Americans got rich by winning the right to establish cellular systems in cities across America. In addition to entering the lottery himself, McCaw approached many other lottery winners and bought their cellular rights, which were already considered to be undervalued. Using the same tactic he'd used in cable TV, McCaw financed an aggressive cellular expansion by borrowing against and selling shares in the cable operation. Through continued borrowing and smart management of only the most useful licenses, this wireless land grab put McCaw's operation in the position of a competitive nationwide cellular carrier before the incumbent landline telephone industry took serious notice in the field.

After acquiring MCI's cellular wing in 1986, the McCaw brothers sold the cable company to Cooke Cablevision (now part of Comcast). The combined cellular operation was a significant player in the field. In 1990, McCaw was the highest paid CEO in the United States.

In 1994, the McCaw brothers sold McCaw Cellular to AT&T for $12.6 billion.[1] The company was renamed AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless was sold to Cingular in 2004 to become the nation's largest wireless carrier.

[edit] Later ventures

Later that same year, the McCaw brothers founded NEXTLINK Communications, planning to enter the broadband and internet service provider market. In 2000, the company merged with Concentric Communications and was renamed XO Communications. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.

In 1994, McCaw and Bill Gates teamed up to form Teledesic, with an ambitious plan to form a broadband satellite communications system with nearly 300 low earth orbit satellites. In 2002, Teledesic halted satellite production; and in 2003, it sold its spectrum licenses. The company has since severely scaled back its plans. McCaw serves as Teledesic's chairman.

In August 2003, McCaw founded Clearwire Corporation, a provider of portable wireless high-speed Internet service [1]. The company’s U.S. wireless broadband network is deployed in markets ranging from major metropolitan areas to small, rural communities. In addition, Clearwire offers wireless broadband services in Belgium, Spain and Ireland. (Source - www.clearwire.com)

At the end of 2007, Clearwire offered service in 46 markets in the U.S. as well as four markets in Europe.

McCaw, who currently serves as Chairman of Clearwire, once said to an interviewer, "Filling a need that others aren't addressing has always been a focus of the companies that I have been involved with." (Source - http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mcc0bio-1) Clearwire expects to launch its first mobile WiMAX markets in the second half of 2008. (Source - SEC Edgar CLWR 10-K 2008) It is expected that mobile WiMAX technology will revolutionize the way that people make use of the full capabilities of the Internet. (http://www.capitolvalley.net/2008/04/nokia-announces-the-n810-wimax.html) (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_30/b3994051.htm?chan=search)

On May 7, 2008, Clearwire and Sprint announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine their next-generation wireless broadband businesses to form a new wireless communications company. The new company, which will be named Clearwire, will be focused on accelerating the deployment of the first nationwide mobile WiMAX network. Five innovative technology, content and communications leaders - Intel Corporation, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks - have collectively agreed to invest $3.2 billion into the new company. In addition, Trilogy Equity Partners, led by John Stanton former chairman and CEO of VoiceStream and Western Wireless, will invest directly in the new Clearwire's common stock. Stanton is expected to serve on the new company's board of directors. The new company will be based in Kirkland, Wash. and the management team will be led by Benjamin G. Wolff, who currently currently serves as CEO of Clearwire. The new company will be traded on the NASDAQ: CLWR. As part of the announcement, Clearwire Chairman Craig McCaw said, "The power of the mobile Internet, which offers speed and mobility, home and away, on any device or screen, will fundamentally transform the communications landscape in our country. We believe that the new Clearwire will operate one of the fastest and most capable broadband wireless networks ever conceived, giving us the opportunity to return the U.S. to a leadership position in the global wireless industry." The transaction has been approved by all of the parties' boards of directors, and is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2008. (http://www.clearwire.com)

Craig McCaw's private equity firm, Eagle River Holdings, has major stakes in Clearwire and ICO Communications.

McCaw is married to Susan Rasinski McCaw, a former United States Ambassador to Austria.

[edit] Quotes

  • "Change occurs because there is a gap between what is and what should be."
  • "Filling a need that others aren't addressing has always been a focus of the companies that I have been involved with."
  • "The power of the mobile Internet, which offers speed and mobility, home and away, on any device or screen, will fundamentally transform the communications landscape in our country. We believe that the new Clearwire will operate one of the fastest and most capable broadband wireless networks ever conceived, giving us the opportunity to return the U.S. to a leadership position in the global wireless industry."

[edit] References

  1. ^ Smith, R.J. (January 2008), “Inside the Santa Barbara News-Press Mess”, Los Angeles: 104-109, 176-179, <http://www.lamag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=14D5B253DB1D499F9AD38F459D8E926A&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=4B9DB287208F4335B608F02E7AB46E39> 

[edit] External links