Focus Media Holding is a Chinese company which claims to operate the largest out-of-home advertising

Out-of-home advertising

Out-of-home advertising is made up of more than 100 different formats, totaling $6.99 billion in annual revenues in 2008 in the USA. Outdoor advertising is essentially any type of advertising that reaches the consumer while he or she is outside the home...

 network in that country, consisting predominantly of digital signage

Digital signage

Digital signage is a form of electronic display that shows television programming, menus, information, advertising and other messages. Digital signs can be found in public and private environments, such as retail stores, hotels, restaurants and corporate buildings.Digital signage Displays are most...

 screens, and claims to own the country's largest Internet advertising agency

Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...

.

History

The company was founded in 2003, and its stock has been traded on the U.S. market since its IPO in July 2005.

As of March 31, 2007, it reported that its network included:

• 83,256 screens showing advertising in sites including office buildings and outdoor
• 40,736 screens in retail outlets, including 842 supermarkets, 1,196 hypermarkets and 1,897 convenience stores
• 124,542 poster frames in elevators

In March 2007, Focus acquired Allyes Information Technology Company, China’s largest online ad agency.

Focus also sells advertising in cinemas

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 and until 2008 operated a mobile telephone advertising business.

In December 2008, Focus reached an agreement with SINA Corporation that SINA would acquire most of Focus's digital out-of-home business, but the deal was abandoned in September 2009.

Alleged fraud

In November 2011, Muddy Waters Research reported massive fraud at the company. It alleged that the company

• has been fraudulently overstating the number of screens in its LCD network by approximately 50%,
• has claimed to acquire, write down, and dispose of companies that it never actually purchased,
• has written at least 21 acquisitions down to zero and then given them away for no consideration,
• has been used by insiders as their counterparty in trading in and out of subsidiary Allyes, with several individuals earning a total of at least $70.1 million, while shareholders lost $159.6 million.

Focus denied the allegations.