Cox Enterprises

Founding

The company was founded in Dayton, Ohio, by James M. Cox, who purchased the Dayton Daily News in 1898. Cox became a member of Ohio's delegation to the United States House of Representatives and then the governor of Ohio. He was the Democratic Party candidate for president of the United States in the presidential election of 1920, running unsuccessfully on a ticket that included Franklin D. Roosevelt as the vice presidential candidate.

Telecommunications

In 1935, at the urging of Governor Cox's son, James M. Cox Jr., Cox entered the radio business starting with WHIO in Dayton. Governor Cox purchased The Atlanta Journal in 1939 as well as radio station WSB. On September 29, 1948, Cox's WSB-TV, later referred to as the "Eyes of the South", aired the first television broadcast in Atlanta. WHIO-TV in Ohio's Miami Valley soon followed, airing its first broadcasts on February 23, 1949.

In 1950, Governor Cox purchased The Atlanta Constitution, and in 1962 his son purchased three cable television systems in central Pennsylvania with a total of 11,800 subscribers. The two combined their broadcasting and cable businesses into the publicly traded Cox Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1964, though the newspaper business remained independent as Cox Enterprises.

In 1966, Cox expanded its holdings to purchase television syndicator Walter Schwimmer, followed in 1967 by the purchase of television production company Bing Crosby Productions. Cox subsequently sold off its syndication unit to a new production company, Telecom Productions, in 1970. Cox would reenter the television syndication business, when Cox's subsidiary, TeleRep, established Television Program Enterprises in the late 1970s, before merging with Rysher Entertainment in 1993.

As the cable business expanded, it was eventually consolidated and spun off into the new privately owned Cox Cable Communications (CCC) in 1968, which quickly became the second-largest cable TV company. Upon Jim Cox Jr.'s death in 1974, he left his two sisters, Anne Cox Chambers and Barbara Cox, in control of 95% of the privately owned company.

In 1982, CBC moved its headquarters to the Atlanta area and changed its name to Cox Communications, Inc. The company was eventually consolidated into Cox Enterprises. In 1988, then-Executive Vice President Jim Kennedy, grandson of Governor Cox, was promoted to CEO and chairman of Cox Enterprises.

In 1986, Cox Enterprises launched a new subsidiary, Cox Video. It lined up eleven commitments for original video programs, four of them from Media Home Entertainment, which are comedy-based tapes, and seven from Fox Hills Video, which are reality-based tapes, both subsidiaries of Heron Communications. Co-production budgets totaled $1.5 million. Cox Video also acquired the rights to produce video adaptations of the magazines and exercise regulations of Joe Weider, which included Muscle & Fitness, Flex and Men's Fitness & Shape. Peter Bieler served as executive producer on tapes produced by Cox Video, and also served as executive vice president of the studio. The company planned regular releases that sometimes used the magazines' names and would be positioned as companions to Weider's widely distributed equipment. The MHE comedies were ranked in the $100,000 range and the Fox Hills tapes in the $100,000 range.

Over the ensuing decades, Cox made pioneering investments and became the first company to bundle telephone, highspeed internet and digital cable television over a single broadband network.

Cox Communications

Cox Communications is the third-largest U.S. cable company, serving approximately 6 million residences and businesses. It provides advanced digital video, Internet, telephone and home security and automation services over its own nationwide IP network. The company has also been deploying residential gigabit internet service. In 2019, Cox Communications earned the No. 11 spot on the 2019 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. This marks the fourteenth time the company has been recognized among the nation's corporate diversity leaders. As of May 16, 2025, Cox Communications will merge with Charter Communications, with the resulting company retaining the Cox Communications name. Cox Enterprises will own 23% of the combined company, and replace Liberty Media as the provider of long-term capital to Charter.

Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive is a provider of "vehicle remarketing services and digital marketing and software for automotive dealers and consumers." Cox Automotive brands include Manheim, Clutch Technologies, Dealer-Auction Ltd, AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, vAuto, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, NextGear Capital, Xtime, Vinsolutions, Dickinson Fleet Services, FleetNet America, and a host of global businesses and brands serving auto dealers, manufacturers and financial institutions.

Cox Media Group

Cox Media Group (CMG) is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company.

In 2019, Cox Enterprises reached an agreement with Apollo Global Management to sell a majority interest in Cox Media Group's broadcast television stations, including the company's radio, newspaper, and TV properties in Ohio, and its local OTT advertising subsidiary – Gamut. Smart Media from Cox. based in New York. On February 10, 2020, Cox Enterprises bought back the Ohio newspapers it sold to Apollo Global Management after the FCC required Apollo to reduce the daily newspapers to 3-day publication or sell them. Cox announced the newspapers would continue 7-day publication.