Lamar Advertising Company

Lamar Advertising Company is an outdoor advertising company which operates billboards, logo signs, and transit displays in the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1902 by Charles W. Lamar and J.M. Coe, and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The company has over 200 locations in the United States and Canada. They have reportedly more than 325,000 displays across the USA. Lamar Advertising Company became a real estate investment trust in 2014.

History
Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902 by J.M. Coe and Charles W. Lamar. The Company became independent under its current name in 1908 in Pensacola, Florida, when Charles W. Lamar, Sr. and J.M. Coe decided to dissolve their three-year partnership using a coin toss to divide their assets. The Pensacola Opera House and the Pensacola Advertising Company that was created to promote it were to be divided between the two men. Charles W. Lamar lost the toss and was left with the less-lucrative poster company, which he renamed the Lamar Outdoor Advertising Company.

The Pensacola Opera House was destroyed during Hurricane Four of the 1917 Atlantic hurricane season, with the Saenger Theatre later built on the site.

In October 2004, Lamar swapped assets in South Carolina and Georgia to Fairway Outdoor Advertising, in exchange for the Palm Springs, CA; Fayetteville, NC; Rocky Mount, NC; and New Bern, NC assets. Later in November, Lamar acquired Obie Media Corporation of Eugene, Oregon, adding outdoor displays in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; as well as handling transit advertising contracts in a few areas.

In January 2016, Lamar purchased advertising rights in five major American markets from Clear Channel Outdoor for $458.5 million.