Rayner owns about one-sixth of Cox Enterprises, a telecommunications and automotive services conglomerate. The Atlanta-based company controls the third-biggest cable operator in the US, which serves about 6 million homes and businesses. The combined group reported revenue of $20.9 billion in 2021.
Rayner owns 16% of Cox Enterprises, a closely held conglomerate. She received the stake in December 2013 after her mother, Anne Cox Chambers, dissolved a trust that held 49.4% of Cox. Ownership is based on court documents and Cox's disclosure to Bloomberg that internal transactions resulted in equal stakes among the two owner families.
Cox Enterprises had revenue of $20.9 billion in 2021, according to the company. It has two main units: Cox Communications and Cox Automotive.
Cox Automotive is a provider of car sales software technology. It had revenue of $7.6 billion in 2021 and is valued on the average enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiples of KAR Auction Services, CarMax and Penske Automotive.
Cox Communications is the third-largest cable operator in the U.S., according to the company's website. It had revenue of $13.1 billion in 2021 and is valued using the average enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiple of three publicly traded peer companies: Comcast, Verizon, and Rogers Communications.
Rayner's share of corporate-level debt is included as a liability.
Natalie Giurato, a Cox group spokesperson, provided revenue figures without further comment.
Katharine Rayner is the granddaughter of James M. Cox, who built a U.S. newspaper chain after buying the Dayton Evening News in 1898. He became a politician, serving first as an Ohio state representative, then as governor. He ran for the U.S. presidency as a Democrat in 1920, losing to fellow newspaper publisher Warren G. Harding. He gave each of his daughters, Anne and Barbara, 49.4 percent of the company. Rayner, born in 1945, is one of Anne's three children and inherited her stake in 2013 when Anne distributed her Cox shares to her three heirs.
Today, Rayner's cousin, James Kennedy, is chairman of Cox Enterprises. The company operates newspapers as well as one of the largest cable systems in the U.S. and automotive servicves brands.
Rayner was married to William Rayner, a retired Conde Nast executive and painter, who passed away in 2018. The couple don't have any children, according to documents detailing the extended Cox family tree submitted to the court as part of her mother's petition to distribute her company shares.