The radio business has been very good to Lowry Mays and Billie Joe “Red” McCombs.

In 1972, they formed the San Antonio Broadcasting Company to buy an FM station for $125,000.

Thirty-five years later, that company is called Clear Channel Communications and it owns more than 1,000 stations. Its shareholders recently approved a $19.5 billion private equity buyout that values Mays’ stock at more than $1.1 billion and McCombs’ shares at about $190 million. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

In early 2000, when Clear Channel shares hit $95, the founders’ stock would have been valued at more than twice as much as now.