Sales 2023: CAD 9.340 billion (€ 6.400 billion)

Overview

Rogers Communications is Canada's leading media company, active in TV, radio, and print, as well as mobile, cable, and internet providers. Its portfolio also includes sports teams, home shopping, and streaming portals.

The sales figures in the IfM ranking refer to the figures given in the Rogers Annual Report 2023 for Cableand Media.

General Information

Headquarters
333 Bloor St. East
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1G9
Canada
Telephone: 001 416 935 7777
website: investors.rogers.com

Branches of trade: TV stations, cable networks, special interest channels, radio, magazines, mobile communications, baseball teams
Legal form: Stock Company
Financial year: 01.01. – 31.12.
Founding year: 1960

Basic economic data (in CAD billion)

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Revenue	19,3	15,4	14,66	13,92	15,07	15,1
profit after taxes	0,849	1,68	1,56	1,59	2,14	2,24
share price (in CAD, year-end)	62,51	63,37	60,23	59,62	64,48	69,96
Employees	26.000	22.000	23.000	23.500	25.300	26.100

Sales by business segment (in million CAD)

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Wireless	10.222	9.197	8.768	8.530	9.250	9.200
Cable	7.005	4.071	4.072	3.946	3.954	3.932
Media	2.335	2.277	1.975	1.606	2.072	2.168

Executives and Directors

Management:

• Tony Staffieri, President and Chief Executive Officer
• Glenn Brandt, Chief Financial Officer
• Robert Dépatie, President and COO Home & Business
• Lisa Durocher, EVP, Financial and Emerging Services
• Jorge Fernandes, Chief Technology and Information Officer
• Phil Hartling, President Wireless
• Bret Leech, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Colette Watson, President, Sports & Media
• Mahes Wickramasinghe, Chief Administrative Officer
• Ted Woodhead, Chief Regulatory Officer and Government Affairs
• Marisa Wyse, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Supervisory Board:

• Jack Cockwell
• Michael Cooper
• Ivan Fecan
• Robert J. Gemmel
• Alan D. Horn, Rogers
• Jan Innes
• John Custance Kerr
• Dr. Mohamed Lachem
• Philip B. Lind
• David Robinson
• Edward S. Rogers
• Loretta Anne Rogers
• Martha L. Rogers
• Melinda M. Rogers
• Tony Staffieri

History

The first Rogers was a radio guyEdward Samuel Rogers Sr. (1900-1939) was considered the inventor of the all electric radio and especially the radio with a power plug; previously, radio receivers could only be powered by batteries. His invention marked a breakthrough for broadcasting. In 1925, he founded Standard Radio Manufacturing, which is the origin of Rogers Communications, even though the current corporation was not officially founded until 1960. Edward S. Rogers Jr., known as "Ted" (1933-2008), was five years old when his father died. As a student, he bought the radio station CHFI-FM in Toronto. Although only five percent of all Canadian households at the time had shortwave receivers, he foresaw the triumph of this technology. For a country the size of Canada, which, unlike Europe, had vast uninhabited areas, this was not a given. With the same foresight, he recognized that distribution via cable offered great opportunities - for radio, but above all for television. In 1967, he acquired the first licenses for Toronto, Brampton, and Leamington. 

By 1974, Rogers Cable Television was already broadcasting 12 channels and by 1980 had become Canada's largest cable company. Starting in 1985, Rogers developed a new business area and attacked the established telephone companies with its own nationwide mobile network. Rogers Cantel Inc. (now Rogers Wireless) now covers 94 percent of the country with its network. Landline telephony was experiencing greater difficulties. In 1967, the telegraph branches of Canada's two major railway companies formed the joint venture "Canadian National-Canadian Pacific Telecommunications" (CNCP), which became a telephone company by 1980. In 1984, Rogers bought 40 percent of CNCP and renamed the company Unitel Communications. Following the liberalization of the Canadian telephone market in 1992, the federal broadcasting regulator assigned the company the task of competing with the monopolist Bell Canada. The US provider AT&T then acquired 20 percent of Unitel. A restructuring followed, which ended in 1995 with Rogers' withdrawal from landline telephony.  

In 1994, Rogers successfully entered the print business, acquiring the Maclean Hunter publishing house and its book and newspaper offerings for two billion US dollars. This acquisition, along with the costly technical upgrade of its cable networks, forced the company to divest from several activities (including its home security division and Rogers Telecom). However, the company accepted Microsoft's 1999 offer to acquire a nine percent stake in Rogers, enabling it to offer interactive services over the Rogers broadband network. The agreement included the license for Microsoft TV and the use of Microsoft set-top boxes.

In 2000, Rogers expanded and acquired the Cable Atlantic TV Network, but failed in its attempt to acquire the Vidéotron Cable Network for $3.62 billion. A year later, Rogers purchased 13 radio stations from Standard Broadcasting and became the owner of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team (for $112 million) and the Toronto Phantoms football team. In 2004, the company acquired a 50 percent stake in Dome Productions, Canada's leading provider of HDTV technology. It also acquired the wireless provider Microcell for $1.4 billion and repurchased AT&T Wireless's shares. 

At the end of 2013, longtime CEO Nadir Mohammed resigned after internal power struggles with the Rogers clan. His successor was Briton Guy Laurence, born in 1961. He was previously CEO of Vodafone and was considered a driving force behind the $5.2 billion deal with the North American Hockey League (NHL), which granted Rogers exclusive TV broadcasting rights for years to come. However, Laurence, too, was forced to leave in October 2016 following conflicts with the Rogers family (and served as Chief Executive of the British soccer club Chelsea until 2022).

His successor, Joseph Natale, was an insider in the Canadian telco landscape and previously headed Telus, a Vancouver-based cable company. Natale found himself in a difficult situation. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRCT) was pressuring all Canadians to have access to affordable high-speed internet, at a price significantly lower than Rogers' monthly fees of around 80 Canadian dollars. But with a mountain of debt of more than 18 billion dollars, due in no small part to investments in network expansion and the purchase of spectrum licenses, there was little room for price adjustments.

management

2021 saw the next power struggle at the top of Rogers. CEO Joseph Natale was ousted in mid-November 2021 and forced to leave, albeit with a so-called golden parachute (a "financial security package for executives") worth approximately $14 million. His interim successor (according to the CBC, "interim president and CEO") is Tony Staffieri, formerly Rogers' CFO, now president and CEO. No further information about Staffieri is available.

Business segments

The mobile communications division Wireless With its 10.9 million customers, it has been Canada's leading provider since 2004. In 2021, it generated CAD 8,768 million, or 59 percent of total revenue.

Cable operates cable networks in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, with a total of 4.7 million subscribers (TV, internet, and telephony) in 2021, generating 27 percent of total revenue (CAD 4,072 million). In June 2008, Rogers also acquired 100% from Aurora Cable TV Ltd., a cable provider in York Region, Ontario. Upon completion of the acquisition of competitor Shaw Communications in 2022, Rogers will further expand its dominant position in the Canadian media market.

Under Media A diversified media and sports portfolio is bundled together. Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays, Canada's only Major League Baseball team, and holds shares in the NBA basketball team Toronto Raptors and the Major League Soccer team Toronto FC through its stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Also in the portfolio are three TV stations (Sportsnet, City Network, OMNI), 55 radio stations (including 98.1 CHFI, 680 NEWS, Sportsnet The FAN, KiSS, JACK FM, SONiC), and the specialty channels X, FXX, Outdoor Life Network, and TSC (teleshopping).

Current developments

The yet-to-be-completed takeover of competitor Shaw Communications (for CAD 26 billion) likely bodes ill for Canadian media consumers. They already pay some of the highest fees in the world for cable, internet, and phone services. After the takeover, 90 percent of the population will only have three providers to choose from: Bell, Telus, and Rogers. Calls for a state-owned provider are therefore growing louder in Canada. Naturally, Rogers argues quite differently. The company needs to grow to build a nationwide, competitive 5G network.