General Info

Founded in 1902, Lamar Advertising currently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in more than 40 states and Puerto Rico. Lamar has over 70 transit franchises that reach driving audiences across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico through billboards, digital billboards, bus shelters, benches and buses. Lamar is also the nation’s leader in the highway logo sign business, with operations in 19 states and the province of Ontario, Canada. A simple flip of the coin in Pensacola, Fla., landed Charles W. Lamar Sr. the opportunity of a lifetime. In 1908, when Mr. Lamar and J.M. Coe decided to dissolve their three-year partnership, a coin toss was used to divide their assets: the Pensacola Opera House and the Pensacola Advertising Company, the small poster company created to promote the Opera House. Mr. Lamar lost the toss and was left with the less-lucrative poster company, which he renamed Lamar Outdoor Advertising Company. Over the course of the next century, Mr. Lamar and his descendants built Lamar Advertising from a small sign company on the Gulf Coast into one of the largest providers of out-of-home advertising in the nation. Through generations of commitment, integrity and innovation, Lamar has changed the nation’s landscape while still maintaining the character of a family business. Current chief executive officer Kevin Reilly Jr., the great-grandson of Charles Lamar Sr., was appointed to succeed his father in 1989. Since then, Lamar – now based in Baton Rouge — has entered into a new phase of growth and diversification, including its expansion into the interstate logo business and its recent introduction of digital billboards, which allow advertisers to update their messages instantly. In 1996, Lamar made its first public offering of stock, which began trading on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol LAMR. In 1999, after completing its $1.6 billion acquisition of Chancellor Media, Lamar became the nation’s largest outdoor advertising company, measured by number of displays. In 2005, Lamar generated revenues of more than $1 billion for the first time. Its 3,300 dedicated employees are spread among more than 150 offices in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico — including a 25-person office in Pensacola, where it all began more than 100 years ago. For more information about The Lamar Corporation, visit lamar.com