Craig McCaw | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Craig McCaw in May 2008 | |
| Born | (1949-08-11)August 11, 1949 (age 75) Centralia, Washington, U.S. |
| Education | Stanford University |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman and entrepreneur |
| Known for | Wireless service companies |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | John McCaw Jr. (brother)[1] |
Craig McCaw (born August 11, 1949) is an American businessman and entrepreneur, a pioneer in thecellular phone industry. He is the founder ofMcCaw Cellular (now part ofAT&T Mobility) andClearwire Corporation (now part ofT-Mobile via the Sprint acquisition).
McCaw is the second of four sons of Marion andJ. Elroy McCaw. As a child, the family lived in the posh gated Highlands community north of Seattle, and McCaw attended Seattle's privateLakeside School, where he was later given a Lakeside Distinguished Alumni Award. McCaw's father was a broadcasting magnate and owner of Gotham Broadcasting Corporation. Gotham owned theNew York City radio stationWINS, which became one of the first stations to playrock and roll, withAlan Freed being one of the earliest famousdisc jockeys on the station. McCaw's father was in the business of buying and selling TV and radio stations, which brought in wealth but also incurred significant debts. Elroy entered thecable television business in the 1960s, and his four sons worked as linemen and door-to-door salesmen.
When Elroy McCaw died in 1969 at age 57, the only company not sold to repay the debt was the small cable company in Centralia, Washington, with an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 subscribers, that was in trust. While atStanford, Craig joinedDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (DKE), and in his senior year, he took the helm of the cable company and set out to rebuild his family name. He used the cash flows from his growing cable company to purchase other remote cable companies, resulting in a profitable conglomerate. By the 1980s, McCaw Cablevision was the 20th largest cable carrier in the US.
When theFCC held a lottery for cellular licenses in the early 1980s, many ordinary Americans became wealthy 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.
After acquiringMCI's cellular wing in 1986, the McCaw brothers sold the cable company to Cooke Cablevision (now part ofComcast). The combined cellular operation was a significant player in the field. In 1990, McCaw was the highest paidCEO in the US.
In 1994, the McCaw brothers sold McCaw Cellular toAT&T Corporation for $11.5 billion.[2] The company was renamedAT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless was sold toCingular in 2004 to become the nation's largestwireless carrier.
Following the sale of McCaw Cellular, McCaw took interest inNextel, a then-floundering wireless carrier. By April 1995 McCaw gained effective control of the company contributing, along with his brothers, $1.1 billion over time. Within four years Nextel grew significantly to become a challenging wireless competitor, servicing 3.6 million customers throughout the U.S. and ten of the largest international markets.[3] In 1999 McCaw formed Nextel Partners, Inc. which was later acquired bySprint Nextel, Inc., for $6.5 billion in 2006, following a $36 billion merger between Nextel and theSprint Corporation in 2005.[4][5]
Later that same year, McCaw founded NEXTLINK Communications, planning to enter thebroadband andinternet service provider market. In 2000, the company merged with Concentric Network and was renamedXO Communications. The company filed forbankruptcy protection in 2002.
In 1994, McCaw andBill Gates teamed up to formTeledesic, with an ambitious plan to form a broadband satellite communications system with hundreds oflow Earth orbit satellites.[6][7] In 2002, Teledesic halted satellite production; and in 2003, it sold itsspectrum licenses.
In 2000, McCaw invested inNew ICO, a refloating after bankruptcy of ICO Global Communications, a mobile-satellite service (MSS) constellation company. The company did not complete its planned satellite constellation.
In August 2004, McCaw founded Clearwire Corporation, a provider of wireless broadband Internet service. The company's U.S. broadband network is deployed in markets ranging from major metropolitan areas to small, rural communities.
At the end of 2007, Clearwire offered service in 46 markets in the U.S. as well as four markets in Europe.
McCaw, who served as Chairman of Clearwire until December 31, 2010, 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."[8]
In November 2008, Clearwire completed a landmark transaction with Sprint combining their next-generation wireless broadband businesses into a new wireless communications company, which retained the name Clearwire.[9] With the closing, Sprint contributed all of its 2.5 GHz spectrum and its WiMAX-related assets, including its XOHM business, to Clearwire. In addition, Clearwire received a $3.2 billion cash investment fromComcast,Intel,Time Warner Cable,Google andBright House Networks.
The new company traded on theNASDAQ as CLWR. As part of the announcement, then 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."
In January 2009,Clearwire launched its first 4G mobileWiMAX network inPortland, Oregon, making it only the second city afterBaltimore to offer a high-speed network at truebroadband speeds. By the end of 2010, the company had expanded its 4G network to 71 markets in the U.S. covering more than 110 million people.[10]
McCaw is a major Republican donor, and has been described as a 'bundler' for the 2012 presidential candidateMitt Romney.[11] He has supportedJon Huntsman,[12]John McCain,[13] andGeorge W. Bush.[14] In 2012, McCaw donated $500,000 toAmerican Crossroads.[15]
McCaw was a founding donor and underwriter of the Free Willy Foundation (along withWarner Brothers Studios) from 1993 to 2002, with an original $2 million donation.[16] The foundation was formed to release theorcaKeiko, star of the 1993 filmFree Willy, back into the wild. It was later known as the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation.[16]
McCaw was previously married toWendy McCaw,a California newspaper publisher. They divorced in 1997. McCaw was married toSusan Rasinski McCaw, an investment banker and former United States Ambassador to Austria. They have three children together, Chase McCaw, Julia McCaw, and Reid McCaw.
In 1999, McCaw bought a house inHunts Point, Washington fromKenny G.[17]
McCaw is currently[when?] on the Board of Overseers forthe Hoover Institution and serves on the boards ofThe Nature Conservancy, theHoratio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, and theFriends of Nelson Mandela Foundation. He is president of theCraig and Susan McCaw Foundation, which supports a variety of educational, environmental, and international economic development projects. McCaw has also served on the boards ofConservation International, theGrameen Technology Center, theNational Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and theAcademy of Achievement.[18]
McCaw is a significant car collector, and once amassed a collection of 400 cars with his brother, Bruce.[19] In 2012 McCaw paid $35 million for a 1962Ferrari 250 GTO, setting a new record for the most expensive car ever sold. The 250 GTO was originally built forStirling Moss, who never raced the car. It was driven at the1962 24 Hours of Le Mans byInnes Ireland andMasten Gregory.[20]
As of 2016[update], Craig McCaw is no longer on theForbes 400 List of Wealthiest Americans.[21]
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