Jason Jiang noticed that office workers in Shanghai spent a few idle minutes every day waiting for elevators, staring at nothing. He filled that gap with flat-panel screens running ads on a loop. Focus Media signed up building after building and sold the audience to advertisers chasing China's new white-collar class. When it listed on Nasdaq in July 2005, it was one of the first Chinese media companies to raise money in New York.

A Captive Audience in the Lobby

Jiang had run an ad agency before he started Focus Media in 2003. His idea needed no new technology. He leased small LCD screens, mounted them in the lobbies of office towers, and paid landlords a fee. The audience was young, employed, and stuck in place for a minute or two. Advertisers paid for that attention. Focus Media grew by adding thousands of buildings across China's big cities, then by buying rival networks in supermarkets, residential complexes and online advertising.

From Nasdaq to Shenzhen

Focus Media sold American Depositary Shares at $17 each on Nasdaq under the ticker FMCN, raising about $171 million. Its acquisitions made it China's largest out-of-home ad network, but they also brought losses and scrutiny. In 2011 the short seller Muddy Waters attacked its disclosures, and the stock fell hard. In 2013 a group led by Jiang and the Carlyle Group took the company private in a deal worth about $3.7 billion. Focus Media later relisted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Cover: Elevator Grille from the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago, Illinois, Louis H. Sullivan. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an ornate elevator grille (lobby screens).