Stephen Adams (business)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Adams is an American businessman and private equity
investor. His current holdings include Affinity Group, Inc., a national publishing, retail stores, and member-based direct marketing organization directed toward owners of recreational vehicles and Adams Outdoor Advertising, an operator of outdoor advertising structures in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. His previous holdings have included operators of television and radio stations, print publishers, cola bottlers and community banks.
. Adams received a bachelor's degree in 1959 from Yale University
, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business
in 1962.
Adams began his career in banking and soft drink bottling. Since the 1970s, Adams has served as chairman of privately-owned banking, bottling, publishing, outdoor advertising, television and radio companies in which he holds a controlling ownership interest.
In 1982, Adams won a protracted fight to gain control of the Bank of Montana System. In 1984, Adams failed in a bid to take control of publicly traded Union Planters
.
of billboard and other outdoor advertising assets into additional medium-sized markets, primarily through the acquisition of existing outdoor advertising businesses in selected midwest, southeast and mid-Atlantic states. Today the company is privately held, however in its final year of reporting public financials, 2000, the company had approximately $80 million of revenue. Since 2000, the company has increased its market position from the 6th largest outdoor advertising company in the US to the 3rd largest behind Clear Channel Communications
and Lamar Advertising Company
(AGI), owned by Adams, acquired a company called American Bakeries Company for approximately $138 million . Adams was a noted private equity
investor in the 1980s completing rollups of billboard
assets to form Adams Outdoor Advertising and he also owns or has owned various banking, bottling, publishing as well as television and radio companies. At the time of the merger, the sole operating assets of American Bakeries Company were TL Enterprises, Inc. (Trailer Life magazine) and Camp Coast to Coast, Inc. These entities consisted of what is today the Good Sam Club
, Coast to Coast, AGI’s subscription-based products and services business and AGI’s RV-related publications, with the exception of the Woodall’s titles.
From 1990 through 1997 AGI made a number of significant acquisitions that expanded AGI’s scale and presence. In 1990, AGI acquired Golf Card International, Inc. for approximately $18 million. Subsequently, in May 1994, AGI acquired Woodall Publishing Company, L.P. and Woodall World of Travel, L.P. (collectively Woodall’s) for approximately $11.5 million.
In 1995, AGI acquired San Francisco Thrift and Loan (founded in 1982) and the company’s headquarters were relocated to Ventura, California. In 1997 the bank was renamed Affinity Bank and in 1999, AGI transferred ownership to Affinity Bank Holdings, Inc. a separate entity controlled by Adams
In March 1997, as part of AGI’s $130.0 million offering of the holding company notes due 2007, AGI acquired Camping World, Inc. and Ehlert Publishing for approximately $123.0 million and $22.3 million, respectively.
On August 28, 2009, Affinity Bank was closed by the California Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC]) was named Receiver. Pacific Western Bank of San Diego, California took over all deposit accounts, excluding certain brokered deposits. The closure was a result of Affinity’s depleted capital reserves due to defaults on commercial mortgages and construction loans. Regulators estimate the cost of the Affinity Bank failure at $254 million.
Between September 14 and December 14, 2009 AGI sought and received ten extensions on bond payments due from creditors. On Dec 17, 2009 AGI received $70M from a private equity source
candidates. He reportedly contributed over $1 million of billboard advertising (through his Adams Outdoor Advertising business) to support George W. Bush
's 2000 presidential campaign.
. The Adams Family Foundation, founded by Adams and his wife, Denise, has made grants to a variety of educational institutions including Yale University, Stanford University
, Westmont College
, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
and The Blake School. Adams gave a $100 million gift to the Yale School of Music
, the largest single contribution in the school's 108-year history to that point.
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
investor. His current holdings include Affinity Group, Inc., a national publishing, retail stores, and member-based direct marketing organization directed toward owners of recreational vehicles and Adams Outdoor Advertising, an operator of outdoor advertising structures in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. His previous holdings have included operators of television and radio stations, print publishers, cola bottlers and community banks.
Early life
Adams was born in 1937 and was raised in MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Adams received a bachelor's degree in 1959 from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
in 1962.
Professional career
As of the end of 2007, Adams served as chairman of the board of Affinity Group Inc., FreedomRoads and Affinity Bank. Adams is also chairman and the controlling shareholder of Adams Outdoor Advertising. Stephen Adams has been chairman of Affinity Group Inc., since its acquisition in December 1988 and chairman of Adams Outdoor Advertising since its founding in 1983.Adams began his career in banking and soft drink bottling. Since the 1970s, Adams has served as chairman of privately-owned banking, bottling, publishing, outdoor advertising, television and radio companies in which he holds a controlling ownership interest.
In 1982, Adams won a protracted fight to gain control of the Bank of Montana System. In 1984, Adams failed in a bid to take control of publicly traded Union Planters
Union Planters
Union Planters Bank was a United States financial institution and multi-state bank holding corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee prior to being acquired by Regions Financial Corporation. With over $34 billion in assets, Union Planters Bank was the largest bank in Tennessee and among the...
.
Adams Outdoor
Adams Outdoor was founded in 1983 with the acquisition of Central Outdoor Advertising, located in Michigan. Over the next five years, Adams pursued a rollupRollup
A Rollup is a technique used by investors where multiple small companies in the same market are acquired and merged. The principal aim of a rollup is to reduce costs through economies of scale. Rollups also have the effect of increasing the valuation multiples the business can command as it...
of billboard and other outdoor advertising assets into additional medium-sized markets, primarily through the acquisition of existing outdoor advertising businesses in selected midwest, southeast and mid-Atlantic states. Today the company is privately held, however in its final year of reporting public financials, 2000, the company had approximately $80 million of revenue. Since 2000, the company has increased its market position from the 6th largest outdoor advertising company in the US to the 3rd largest behind Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
and Lamar Advertising Company
Lamar Advertising Company
The Lamar Advertising Company , based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a provider of billboards, transit advertising, and highway logo signs. Founded in 1902, Lamar currently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in more than 40 states and Puerto Rico...
Television and radio investments
In 1992, Radio Group Corporation and Adams Radio of Charlotte, Inc., entities in which Stephen Adams was the chairman and controlling shareholder, consented to the appointment of receivers to effect a transfer of control of the radio operations of such entities as part of a consensual restructuring of the debt of such entities. In 1993, Adams Outdoor of Atlanta, Inc. (Adams Atlanta), a corporation controlled by Stephen Adams, entered into a consensual foreclosure agreement with its lenders. Adams Atlanta was acquired in 1988 in a leveraged transaction, and ownership was transferred to its secured lender in July 1993. In addition, in July 1993, a party whose claim was being disputed filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Adams Atlanta. The petition was withdrawn and dismissed three days after the filing.Affinity Group Inc.
On December 23, 1988 the direct predecessor of Affinity Group Inc.Affinity Group Inc.
Affinity Group is a provider of membership clubs, as well as subscription-based products, services and publications, targeted toward recreational vehicle and other outdoor enthusiasts in the United States...
(AGI), owned by Adams, acquired a company called American Bakeries Company for approximately $138 million . Adams was a noted private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
investor in the 1980s completing rollups of billboard
Billboard
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
assets to form Adams Outdoor Advertising and he also owns or has owned various banking, bottling, publishing as well as television and radio companies. At the time of the merger, the sole operating assets of American Bakeries Company were TL Enterprises, Inc. (Trailer Life magazine) and Camp Coast to Coast, Inc. These entities consisted of what is today the Good Sam Club
Good Sam Club
The Good Sam Club is an international organization of recreational vehicle owners. Its stated primary goals are to make RVing safer and more enjoyable, and to save members money through Club-endorsed benefits and services...
, Coast to Coast, AGI’s subscription-based products and services business and AGI’s RV-related publications, with the exception of the Woodall’s titles.
From 1990 through 1997 AGI made a number of significant acquisitions that expanded AGI’s scale and presence. In 1990, AGI acquired Golf Card International, Inc. for approximately $18 million. Subsequently, in May 1994, AGI acquired Woodall Publishing Company, L.P. and Woodall World of Travel, L.P. (collectively Woodall’s) for approximately $11.5 million.
In 1995, AGI acquired San Francisco Thrift and Loan (founded in 1982) and the company’s headquarters were relocated to Ventura, California. In 1997 the bank was renamed Affinity Bank and in 1999, AGI transferred ownership to Affinity Bank Holdings, Inc. a separate entity controlled by Adams
In March 1997, as part of AGI’s $130.0 million offering of the holding company notes due 2007, AGI acquired Camping World, Inc. and Ehlert Publishing for approximately $123.0 million and $22.3 million, respectively.
On August 28, 2009, Affinity Bank was closed by the California Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...
(FDIC]) was named Receiver. Pacific Western Bank of San Diego, California took over all deposit accounts, excluding certain brokered deposits. The closure was a result of Affinity’s depleted capital reserves due to defaults on commercial mortgages and construction loans. Regulators estimate the cost of the Affinity Bank failure at $254 million.
Between September 14 and December 14, 2009 AGI sought and received ten extensions on bond payments due from creditors. On Dec 17, 2009 AGI received $70M from a private equity source
Political affiliations
Adams has been actively involved in fundraising for Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidates. He reportedly contributed over $1 million of billboard advertising (through his Adams Outdoor Advertising business) to support George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's 2000 presidential campaign.
Philanthropy
Adams currently serves on the board of visitors for the Yale School of MusicYale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
. The Adams Family Foundation, founded by Adams and his wife, Denise, has made grants to a variety of educational institutions including Yale University, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Westmont College
Westmont College
Westmont offers 26 majors, including: alternative major, art, biology, chemistry, communication studies, computer science, economics and business, education program, engineering physics, English, history, European studies, kinesiology, liberal studies, mathematics, modern languages , music,...
, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts is an art college in Old Lyme, Connecticut-History:The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts was founded in 1976 by Elisabeth Gordon Chandler as a figurative academy for the teaching of sculpture, figure drawing, Illustration and painting dedicated to the fine arts...
and The Blake School. Adams gave a $100 million gift to the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
, the largest single contribution in the school's 108-year history to that point.
Awards
Adams was selected to receive the Arbuckle Award from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in 2006.External links
- Affinity Group (official website)
- Affinity Bank (official website)
- Adams Outdoor Adveritising (official website)
- Camping World (official website)
- Affinity Group Holding Inc Company History (FundingUniverse.com)