We love outdoor advertising

We have the best advertising spaces that reach the most people in Sweden’s largest cities. Together with our customers, we create innovative, smart, and unexpected solutions that make the city both better and more beautiful for everyone. To municipalities, we offer free street furniture, which is well-maintained and of high quality, of course.

  • Number of signs
    1 million

  • Number of countries
    85

  • Number of cities
    4400

  • Our headquarters
    France

Jean-Claude Decaux

The Frenchman Jean-Claude Decaux was working as a window cleaner in Lyon when, in the early 60s, he came up with a groundbreaking idea. Could advertising solve problems instead of being a problem?

By offering municipalities elegant and well-maintained weather shelters, entirely funded by advertising, it was possible not only to improve public transport but also to solve the problem of littering from existing advertising posters.

Jean-Claude Decaux, founder of JCDecaux

  • The first advertising weather shelter was installed in Lyon in 1964.

    1964

    The first weather shelter with advertising was installed in Lyon in 1964. The idea quickly gained appreciation from citizens, municipalities, and advertisers alike.

  • JCDecaux company and history

    Jean-Claude Decaux’s small company began to grow rapidly. He launched the concept of street furniture, which included not only weather shelters but also fully automated toilets, benches, street signs, and newsstands. For Jean-Claude, quality was of the utmost importance. Therefore, he initiated collaborations with world-renowned architects such as Norman Foster, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, and Patrick Jouin to design the street furniture.

    ”My whole career has been driven by a constant desire for excellence, a strong emphasis on design and an obsession with always, always using our advertising-based business model to serve the community.”

    Jean-Claude Decaux
  • JCDecaux - the largest outdoor advertising company in the world

    1999

    In 1999, Jean-Claude acquired the media company Vivendi, making JCDecaux the largest outdoor advertising company in the world. The following year, he stepped down as CEO, and his sons took over. The company went public the year after that.

  • Bikes in Paris from JCDecaux

    2006

    In 2006, JCDecaux won the right to introduce a large bike system with 18,000 rental bikes in Paris.

  • JCDecaux is present in 3,400 cities across 85 countries.

    2025

    Today, JCDecaux is present in 3,400 cities across 85 countries. Its advertising messages reach more than 340 million people every day. Approximately 11,900 people work at JCDecaux, and the headquarters are located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside of Paris.

JCDecaux in Sweden

In Sweden, JCDecaux started its first operations in 1989. An agreement was signed with the city of Malmö to provide the city with advertising-funded weather shelters, community information boards, and fully automated public toilets. City after city began to follow Malmö’s example.

In 1997, JCDecaux acquired all shares in AB Förenade ARE-bolagen, allowing the range to expand to include items such as poster pillars and billboards.

JCDecaux Sweden is present in 25 major cities today, employing approximately 70 people. We currently manage around 7000 analog commercial advertising spaces, 270 digital spaces, and 4 large-format spaces, 2 of which are digital. Municipalities and several shopping centers have their own spaces for city information, totaling approximately 1200 spaces. There are about 70 fully automated toilets in operation and approximately 1600 bins in use.

Our service department ensures that all units are always clean and tidy. The good maintenance provided by staff with collective agreements guarantees quality all the way which is a key reason behind JCDecaux’s success.