JCDecaux Group

Company type	Public
Traded as	Euronext Paris: DEC CAC Mid 60 Component
ISIN	FR0000077919
Industry	Outdoor advertising
Founded	1964; 60 years ago (1964)
Founder	Jean-Claude Decaux
Headquarters	Neuilly-sur-Seine , France
Revenue	€3.57 billion (2023)
Net income	€209.2 million (2023)
Owners	JCDecaux Holding, fully owned by the Decaux family (69.83%) Public (28.70%)[1]
Number of employees	13,030 (2016)
Parent	JCDecaux Holding
Subsidiaries	JCDecaux Mobilier Urbain (100%) Sopact (100%) Semup (100%) DPE Decaux Publicité Exterieurs (100%) Somupi (66%) Cyclocity (100%) JCDecaux Avenir - JCDecaux Airport - JCDecaux Artvertising - MCDecaux (60%)
Website	jcdecaux.com

JCDecaux Group (JCDecaux SA, French pronunciation: [ʒisedəˈko] zhee-say-də-KOH) is a multinational corporation focused on outdoor advertising. As of 2016, it is the largest company in its sector worldwide with adverts on 140.000 bus stops and 145 airports.^[2] The company is headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France.

The company was founded in 1964 in Lyon by Jean-Claude Decaux^[3] who led the company until 2000.^[2] Over the years it has expanded aggressively, partly through acquisitions of smaller advertising companies in several countries.

Jean-Claude Decaux^[4] (born 1937) first created a company in 1955 that specialised in outdoor advertising alongside motorways. However, as these billboards were heavily taxed by law, Jean-Claude Decaux turned towards a business model in 1964 that was based on city billboards and invented the concept of advertising street furniture – well-maintained bus shelters fully funded by advertisers. Since the first concept of the bus shelter in 1964, JCDecaux has grown to offer different types of street furniture. In the 1970s, JCDecaux launched its first Citylight Information Panels (CIPs), a 2 m² billboard with signage to indicate directions in cities to drivers. The first fully accessible automatic amenities were installed in San Francisco in 1994, although, in 1981, JCDecaux established a system of automatic public toilet amenities in France. In 1981, JCDecaux also developed the News Electronic Journal, which broadcasts news relating to culture, sport, associations and information about the city.^{[citation needed]}

JCDecaux then bought the Société Fermière des Colonnes Morris. The senior billboards, which measure 8 m² and allow multiple ads on a single site, were created in the 1980s. The first scrolling billboards appeared in 1988, which increased the number of advertising panels without raising the number of structures.

In 1999, the group acquired Havas Media Communication and Avenir.^[5] This acquisition allowed the group to expand into the large-format advertising market and advertising in airports. In 2001, JCDecaux entered the Euronext Stock Exchange^[6] with an opening share price of €16.50. In 2002, Jean-Claude Decaux passed the management of the company on to two of his three sons, Jean-Charles Decaux and Jean-François Decaux, who then became co-CEOs of the company.

JCDecaux installed its first rental system of self-service bicycles in Vienna in 2003 and then in Lyon in 2005. In 2007, JCDecaux won a tender for Paris's street furniture and bicycle rental system. Today,^[when?] JCDecaux has a fleet of 52,000 bicycles now present in 70 cities, operated under the brand Cyclocity.

In 2011, JCDecaux acquired French kiosk business MediaKiosk.^[7]

In January 2022, JCDecaux reported its 2021 revenue as $3.06 billion, an increase of 18.7%, which was perceived as an indication that the out-of-home market had recovered from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions of the previous years.^[8][9]

The JCDecaux specialises in advertising street furniture, large-format billboards, advertising on public transport, and self-service bicycle rental systems.

Advertising street furniture was a concept invented by Jean-Claude Decaux.^{[citation needed]} Street furniture includes bus shelters, Morris columns, city information panels (CIP/MUPIs) and kiosks. Such formats enable advertisers to reach city centres, where large-format billboards are not available. Cities can retain a portion of the advertising panels for their own use. In some countries, JCDecaux holds a contract in shopping malls.

In order to adapt street furniture to the environment, JCDecaux works with internationally renowned designers, such as: Mario Bellini, Philip Cox, Peter Eisenman, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Patrick Jouin, Philippe Starck, Robert Stern, Martin Szekely and Jean-Michel Wilmotte. JCDecaux also has a design office, which works to improve and modernise furniture.^{[citation needed]}

Street furniture also includes a range of non-advertising sites, such as self-service toilets (Sanisettes), electronic newspapers and interactive kiosks next to public benches, bins, columns, road signs, glass batteries and paper containers.

The term transport includes outdoor advertising in airports, on the underground, on buses, trams, and on taxis. JCDecaux operates concessions in 150 airports and more than 300 subways, trains, trolleys and bus stations. In 2013, advertising in transport accounted for 37.9% of JCDecaux's revenue.^[10]

Billboard advertising includes advertising billboards of more than 8 m². These formats can be adapted for many different purposes, such as for event artworks (for example: building wraps), which is operated by JCDecaux under the brand "Artvertising".^{[citation needed]}

Individuals are offered the opportunity to lease part of their property (i.e. wall or garden) to JCDecaux as a billboard site.

The public bicycle rental systems are each financed by local advertising operators, in most cases in return for the cities signing over a 10-year licence to exploit citywide billboards. The overall scheme is called Cyclocity by the company, but each city's system has an individual name.^{[citation needed]}

The cities that have implemented JCDecaux's bicycle rental systems are listed below.^[11]

To sort this table by any column, click on the icon next to the column title.

City	Country	Launch date	System name	Stations	Bikes
Amiens	France	2008	Vélam	26	313
Besançon	France	2007	VéloCité	30	200
Brisbane	Australia	2010	CityCycle	150	2000
Brussels	Belgium	2009	Villo!	360	5000
Cergy-Pontoise	France	2009	VélO2	42	400
Córdoba	Spain	2003	Cyclocity	4	35
Créteil	France	2010	Cristolib’	10	130
Dublin	Ireland	2009	dublinbikes	102	1500
Gijón	Spain	2003	Gijon-Bici	8	64
Gothenburg	Sweden	2010	Styr & Ställ	50[12]	600[12]
Kazan	Russia	2013	Veli’K[13]	6	120[14]
Lillestrøm	Norway	2013	Bysykkel	5	50
Ljubljana	Slovenia	2011	BicikeLJ	84[15]	840[15]
Lund	Sweden	2014	Lundahoj	17	250
Luxembourg	Luxembourg	2008	Vel'oh!	116	1000 [16]
Lyon	France	2005	Vélo'v	348	4000
Maribor	Slovenia	2022	Mbajk	22	220
Marseille	France	2007	Le vélo	130	1000
Mulhouse	France	2007	Vélocité	40	240
Namur	Belgium	2010	Li Bia Velo	24	240
Nancy	France	2008	VélOstan'lib	29	250
Nantes	France	2008	Bicloo	102	880
Rouen	France	2007	Cy'clic	20	250
Santander	Spain	2008	Tusbic	15	200
Seville	Spain	2007	Sevici	260	2500
Toulouse	France	2007	VélôToulouse	253	2400
Toyama	Japan	2010	Cyclocity-Toyama	15	150
Valencia	Spain	2010	Valenbisi	275	2750
Vienna	Austria	2003	City Bike	116	1500
Vilnius	Lithuania	2013	Cyclocity Vilnius	37	300

JCDecaux operates in more than 75 countries across five continents. 77.9% of JCDecaux's annual revenue comes from outside of France.^[10]

JCDecaux originated in France and quickly became established abroad, with its first foreign contracts in Belgium in 1966 and then in Portugal in 1971.^{[citation needed]}

Thanks to its partnership with Wall AG, the company settled in Germany in 1982 and then in Turkey in 1996.

JCDecaux UK was founded in the United Kingdom in 1984 and is the market leader in outdoor advertising. In 2005, JCDecaux UK unveiled the UK's tallest outdoor advertising structure: the M4 Torch. JCDecaux won several important contracts such as: a contract for Outdoor Advertising at St Pancras International in London (2011),^[17] and National Rail Outdoor Advertising and BAA Advertising Contracts at Heathrow, Heathrow Express, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Airports. In 2010, JCDecaux completed the acquisition of UK rival Titan Outdoor.^[18] In 2015, JCDecaux won the Transport for London (TfL) bus shelter advertising contract.^[19]

JCDecaux can now be found in most European countries, including Luxembourg (1985), the Netherlands (1986), Finland (1989), Sweden (1989), Spain (1990), Slovakia (1990), Czech Republic (1995), Norway (1998), Ireland (1999), Poland (1999) and in Hungary (2012). JCDecaux can also be found in the Baltic states (2002), Bulgaria (2007), and Ukraine (2007).^[20] Additionally, JCDecaux is present in Denmark (AFA JCDecaux Denmark) since 1989, in Italy (IGPDecaux) since 1995, in Iceland (AFA JCDecaux Iceland) since 1998, in Switzerland (APG|SGA) since 1999, in Austria (Gewista) since 2001, in Croatia and Slovenia (Europlakat) since 2001, in Serbia (Alma Quattro) since 2003 and in Russia (Russ Outdoor) since 2007 through equity or joint ventures.

JCDecaux has been present in the United States since 1993 in major cities and 26 US airports, including New York,^[21] Washington, D.C.,^[22] and Los Angeles.^[23] JCDecaux entered Canada in 2002.

Its North America division has its head office 350 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.^[24]

JCDecaux moved into Brazil and Argentina in 1998. The company is also a part of the outdoor market in Argentina, Uruguay (2000), and Chile (2001). JCDecaux won a contract for 1000 digital clocks in São Paulo (2012), completing the acquisition of 85% of EUMEX.^[25]

The company's operation also covers the Middle East with offices established in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Doha in Qatar, Tel Aviv in Israel, as well as Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah in Saudi Arabia. JCDecaux signed a 20-year exclusive street furniture contract to provide the City of Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, with a wide range of advertising street furniture.^[26]

JCDecaux is present in the following African countries: Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Malawi, Mauritius, Réunion, Tanzania, Angola, Botswana Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

JCDecaux expanded to Australia in 1997. In Asia, JCDecaux can be found in Singapore and Thailand (1999), Japan (2000, as MCDecaux) and South Korea (2001). JCDecaux entered China in 2004, in seven airports, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. The company also has a presence in India (2006), Uzbekistan (2006), Kazakhstan (2007) and Mongolia (2014).^[27]

In 2018, the company acquired the Australian company APN Outdoor.^[28]

In March 2020, JCDecaux reported that they had been disinfecting bus shelters in Delhi as an effective method to combat the spread of COVID-19.^[29]

• MCDecaux – Joint venture between JCDecaux and Mitsubishi Corporation.

And rival outdoor advertising companies:

• Clear Channel Outdoor
• Lamar Advertising Company
• Outfront Media (formerly CBS Outdoor)
• Pattison Outdoor Advertising (Canada)
• Criticism of advertising
• Ad creep

Media related to JCDecaux at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website