Surviving an Era of Crisis

As television eclipsed radio, Host wanted to move his company forward, so HCI merged with Bray Cary’s company Creative Sports Marketing, forming Host Creative. After one year, however, it appeared that Cary was trying to bankrupt Host and control the entire company. Host fought back and eventually saved his company by divesting of all the holdings Creative Sports originally brought to the merger. Host then worked with Chuck Jarvie to find an equity partner, and they made a deal with GE Capital, which bought an interest in HCI and helped build it. After HCI’s successful expansion, J. Mack Robinson and Bob Prather, who ran Gray Communications and Bull Run, bought GE Capital’s interest in HCI. With this new revenue, HCI continued to expand. After an unsuccessful acquisition deal with Tom Hicks, Bull Run bought HCI, a merger that also involved Universal Sports America and Streetball Partners. Host and his company had survived the crisis.