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Craig McCaw
Net worth	▼ US$1.65 billion (2009)[1] [2]

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.

Early life and cable TV beginnings

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.

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 $11.5 billion.^[3] The company was renamed AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless was sold to Cingular in 2004 to become the nation's largest wireless carrier.

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 Network 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.

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." [1]

It is expected that mobile WiMAX technology will revolutionize the way that people make use of the full capabilities of the Internet [2].

In November of 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 [3]. Clearwire co-founder Benjamin G. Wolff was retained as the CEO of the newly combined company. He has since gone on to be named as Co-Chairman, a position he shares with current Chairman Craig O. McCaw.

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 from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks.

The new company trades on the NASDAQ as 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."

Following in January 2009, Clearwire launched its first 4G mobile WiMAX network in Portland, Oregon, making it only the second city after Baltimore to offer a high-speed network at true broadband speeds. The company also plans to expand its 4G WiMAX network to 80 U.S. markets by the end of 2010, covering up to 120 million Americans [4].

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

Personal life

McCaw was previously married to Wendy McCaw, a California newspaper publisher. They divorced in 1998 with Wendy receiving a $460 million (U.S.) divorce settlement.

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

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."

References

External links

• Clearwire
• AT&T Mobility
• Teledesic
• XO Communications
• [5]