By: Larry MacDonald
I never met Ted Rogers. But I think I would have liked him if I had. We both thought alike when it came to hard work, entrepreneurialism, and persistence.
Still, the prospect of meeting him would have filled me with trepidation. It wouldn’t be because of his stature in the world of Canadian business. It would be for fear I would hear: “Hey, aren’t you the guy who trashed my company?”
Yes, that’s right. Many years before I began working for Canadian Business Online (owned by Rogers Communications), I wrote an article in Investor’s Digest of Canada advising investors to avoid shares in Rogers Communications. In fact, I said sell them. The debt load was too high.
Sometime after, a lengthy letter arrived from Rogers Communication’s chief financial officer. It strongly disagreed with the analysis and some facts. There might have even been a reference to “consulting with our lawyers,” or something like that. The editors dodged the bullet by running an apology, headlined: MACDONALD WAS WRONG. Well, at least they kept me on.
A month or so after sending the anguished letter, the CFO left Rogers’ Communications. Had my diatribe been the straw that broke the back of a fed-up camel? I’ll never know.
Then, over the next year or so, shares in the cable company tumbled all the way to $3.00. My bearish call, as riddled with as it was with dodgy analysis and figures, proved to be the right one. It’s better to be lucky than good, as they say.
Now, Rogers Communications has emerged as a growth company. After years of losses, it is reporting profits, and began paying a dividend that now yields nearly 3%. The shares reached a high of $50 in 2007 and are holding up relatively well, close to $35, as 2008 comes to a close.
The company appears to be winning the convergence battle in the telecommunications field. Ted Rogers certainly has to be given credit for what he built. Many thought he was being too reckless with borrowing and too aggressive in making acquisitions. But he prevailed and showed he had the right approach. It looks like his company will be around for a very long time now. Canadian business could use more Ted Rogers.
One Response to “ Ted Rogers will be missed ”
Digital television network ichannel will televise an interview with Ted Rogers on Wednesday, December 10th at 10:00pm ET and PT.
The broadcast is meant as a tribute to the late President and CEO of Rogers Communications, according to Head of Programming Rosemary Fusca, “Ted Rogers was a pioneer, an innovator and a great Canadian. The interview is very biographical, so viewers will find it as relevant today as it was five years ago, when it first aired. He was such an interesting man, and his openness and plain-spoken wisdom really convey the type of person and entrepreneur he truly was.”
The discussion traces and defines Rogers’ life, beginning with his childhood. His father Edward Rogers invented a vacuum tube that allowed radios to operate by being plugged into the wall. He founded Rogers Vacuum Tube Company and later created AM radio giant CFRB. The elder Rogers died at 38.
Ted Rogers admits during the ichannel interview that he always wanted to buy his father’s original station, but “in those days, if we had gotten CFRB, we would have had to sell either CHFI or 680 News.” Rogers chose to maintain ownership of those two properties, rather than “buy history”.
In 1960, buying CHFI for $85,000 was one of the first acquisitions in a multi-faceted media empire. Only 5% of homes and cars had FM, so the station was advertised as radio for “trendsetters and people who wanted something better. You got to make a benefit out of a liability”, says Rogers on the now top-rated radio juggernaut.
Rogers purchased a cable license for $25.00 in the mid-sixties, when cable was considered nothing more than a technical novelty. In the early 1980’s Rogers Communications developed their wireless business and in 1994 purchased the MacLean Hunter publishing / cable giant.
Rogers describes himself as “a builder: building FM, building cable, and building cellular. We’ve done it the old fashioned way, we worked at it”.
The program was originally produced in 2002, as part of the “i on media” series with Matthew Fraser. ichannel – Intelligent Television – is available by subscription from cable and satellite providers across Canada.
By Jeffrey Alan Payne on Dec 8, 2008