How Blair built the fortune
Blair Parry-Okeden's wealth comes from Cox Enterprises, a family owned conglomerate based in Atlanta. The company traces its origins to 1898, when James M. Cox bought the Dayton Evening News in Ohio. Cox went on to serve as governor of Ohio and was the Democratic candidate for president in 1920, with Franklin D. Roosevelt as his running mate. His newspaper business expanded into radio and television and later into cable, laying the foundation for a group that has stayed in family hands for more than a century.
Blair is a granddaughter of the founder and a daughter of Barbara Cox Anthony, who, along with her sister Anne Cox Chambers, inherited control of the company. After her mother's death in 2007, Blair and her brother, James Cox Kennedy, became the main owners of the family's interest. Kennedy served for many years as chairman and chief executive and led the company's expansion, while Blair remained a shareholder without an executive role. Other branches of the Cox family, descended from Anne Cox Chambers, have held separate interests over time, and the family's ownership has been managed through trusts and holding structures.
The value of the family holding has been driven by the businesses Cox built from the 1960s onward. Cox Communications became one of the largest cable television and broadband providers in the United States, and Cox Automotive grew into a major supplier of services to car dealers and buyers. Because Cox Enterprises is private and publishes only limited figures, the family's wealth depends on estimates of these operating companies rather than on a share price. Cox Communications grew through acquisitions of cable systems in many regions, while Cox Automotive was assembled from businesses that serve the wholesale and retail sides of the used car market.
Companies and holdings
Cox Enterprises operates in several sectors. Cox Communications provides broadband internet, cable television, phone and home security services in many US states. Cox Automotive owns businesses such as the wholesale vehicle auction company Manheim, the car shopping sites Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, and dealer software providers. The group has sold most of its newspapers and broadcasting assets over time and has invested in clean technology and other areas. The group's headquarters are in Atlanta, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution remains one of the best known names associated with the Cox family. Cox Communications is one of the largest private broadband companies in the United States, and its network investments have been a major use of the group's capital.
- Cox Enterprises, family shareholder
- Cox Communications and Cox Automotive through the parent company
- Investments and property held privately outside the company
Early life and career
Blair grew up in a family closely tied to American newspapers and politics, during the years when her mother and aunt held the controlling interest in the Cox businesses. She has lived for many years in Australia and has generally stayed away from the management of the company in Atlanta.
Her brother's leadership of Cox Enterprises meant that the family's interests were represented in the boardroom while she pursued a private life abroad. She has rarely appeared in the media. This division of roles is common in large family companies, where some heirs take on management while others remain passive owners.
Philanthropy and public life
Blair Parry-Okeden is one of the least public members of the Cox family. Little information about her personal philanthropy has been made public, and she does not give interviews or comment on the company's affairs. The Cox family as a whole has supported charitable causes through the James M. Cox Foundation and related vehicles, with a focus on conservation, education and community programs in places where the company operates. The foundation has made grants in the Atlanta area and in other regions where Cox businesses have employees.
Any assessment of her giving is limited by this privacy. Her public identity rests mainly on her status as an heir to one of the oldest family owned media businesses in the United States.