Cablevision Systems (CVC) $14.76
The Company:
Founded in 1973 by Charles “Chuck” Dolan, Cablevision Systems Corporation is a telecommunications and media company with a wide range of operations including advanced digital television, voice and high-speed Internet services, local media and programming properties, and movie theaters. Mr. Dolan was also the founder of HBO and a company called Sterling Manhattan that had wired most of Manhattan for cable TV back in the early 1970s. After losing money for several years, Mr. Dolan handed over his 20% stake in the company and control of HBO to Time Inc., which already owned 80% of Sterling Manhattan. He did manage to retain about 1,500 Long Island customers and managed to grow that into Cablevision, a company currently serving 3.1 million subscribers in the New York City area.