Anne Cox Chambers (born December 1, 1919) is a billionaire media proprietor. She is the daughter of James M. Cox, a newspaper publisher and senior Democratic political identity. With her sister Barbara Cox Anthony she owns and controls her father’s business interests, through Cox Enterprises. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

Her net worth has been estimated at $12 billion, based principally on her equity interest in Cox Enterprises which makes her one of the richest women in the United States

Anne Cox Chambers holds the Chair of Atlanta Newspapers and serves as a Director of Cox Enterprises, one of the largest diversified media companies in the United States. It owns one of the nation's largest cable television businesses, which provides internet and telephony, publishes newspapers including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Palm Beach Post, owns and operates broadcast television and radio stations and owns Manheim, an automobile auction firm. It also owns stakes in a variety of internet businesses, including autotrader.com, the largest wholesale automobile site in the world. The Ambassador's nephew James Kennedy is CEO of Cox Enterprises.

In 2004 Cox Enterprises announced a debt financed $7.9 billion privitization bid for the 38% of the cable television business Cox Communications that it does not already own. With approximately 6.3 million cable subscribers Cox also provides high-speed Internet service to more than 2 million homes and telephone service to 1.1 million homes.

A respected Atlantan business and community figure, Ambassador Chambers also served as a Director of Coca-Cola from through the 1980's and a leading regional financial institution, Fulton National Bank. She was the first woman in Atlanta to serve as a director of a bank, and the first on the board of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

During the Ambassador's time on the Coca-Cola board, a controversy developed over the approach of her newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in writing about the Atlanta headquartered Coca-Cola. The then editor of two years Bill Kovach resigned after management imposed budget cuts and a number of stories Coca-Cola perceived as negative were published. Kovach's term as editor saw the newspaper win two Pulitzer Prizes, the first awarded to the Journal-Constitution in twenty years. A small public and staff rally protested the editor's treatment, with some speculating that the coverage Coca-Cola received was much less critical subsequently.[1] New hire Ron Martin formerly from USA Today was accused of "dumbing down" the paper by Kovach's supporters. [2]

A generous financial supporter of the Democratic party, she was President Jimmy Carter's pick as US Ambassador to Belgium from 1977-1981.

She is also a generous supporter of a wide range of cultural and educational charities, particularly relating to the arts and international affairs and has received many honorary doctorates and awards recognizing her efforts and philanthropy.

She is divorced, with three children.

See also

• List of billionaires

External links

• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People