Grupo Cisneros

Last updated

Organización Cisneros S.A.
Company type Private
Industry
Founded1929;95 years ago (1929) as D. Cisneros & Cia. in Venezuela
Founders
Headquarters
Area served
  • United States
  • Venezuela
  • Spain
  • Dominican Republic
  • Colombia
  • Peru
  • Ecuador
  • Chile
  • China
Key people
Adriana Cisneros (CEO)
Number of employees
800 (2023) [1]
Subsidiaries
Website cisneros.com

Grupo Cisneros is a privately held, family owned business headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, historically based in Venezuela, with a focus on Latin American and Spanish-speaking people worldwide. It is a conglomerate of media entertainment, digital media, property investment, tourism development and consumer product companies which reaches 550 million Spanish and Portuguese-speaking consumers in the Americas and Europe. It also provides media content to more than 100 countries. Its current CEO is Adriana Cisneros. [2]

Contents

History

D. Cisneros & Cia.: 1929–1953

Diego Cisneros, founder of the Cisneros Group of Companies Diego Cisneros.jpg
Diego Cisneros, founder of the Cisneros Group of Companies

Grupo Cisneros was founded in 1929 in Venezuela by Diego Cisneros and his elder brother Antonio José Cisneros as a small material transport business called D. Cisneros & Cia. [3] [4] [5] The brothers then obtained a license to operate a bus route and transformed the dump truck business into a bus business. In time, the Cisneros brothers created a bus line made up of 400 buses, which they sold in 1939. [3]

In 1939, D. Cisneros & Cia. became an exclusive franchiser for Norge, Hamilton Watch Company, and REO Truck brands in Venezuela. In 1940, rapid growth led to the acquisition of the exclusive license manufacture and bottling concession of Pepsi-Cola products in Venezuela, which established the company's fortune. In 1944, the company founded Liquid Carbonic, which produced carbon dioxide as well as other beverage products.

In 1947, D. Cisneros & Cia. went on to represent the car maker, Studebaker, in Venezuela, and in 1952 founded Helados Club Ice Cream Company, which was later renamed Helados Tio Rico, S.A., and was known as Tio Rico ice cream, and became the country's largest ice cream maker.

Cisneros Group of Companies: 1953–1970

In 1953, D. Cisneros & Cia. consolidated its commercial and industrial entities under one corporate structure, which was called the Cisneros Group of Companies.

In 1968, the company founded Gaveplast, a company that produced plastic crates and cases for retail businesses for the beer and carbonated soft drink industries in South America.

Venevisión: 1961

The 1958 fall of Venezuelan president Marcos Pérez Jiménez, created many economic setbacks. This included the sale of the then-only privately-owned channel in Venezuela, TeleVisa aka Televisión Venezolana Independiente SA, which went into bankruptcy. In 1960, the President of Venezuela, Rómulo Betancourt, proposed that Cisneros purchase TeleVisa. Cisneros purchased TeleVisa, and began airing channel 27 on February 27, 1961, resuming uninterrupted transmissions on March 1, 1961. Cisneros re-branded TeleVisa as Venevisión on February 27, 1961.

Cisneros Group of Companies: 1970–2013

In 1970, when Diego Cisneros had a stroke, leadership of the company was transferred to two of his sons. In February 1970, Ricardo José Cisneros became Chief Operating Officer of Cisneros, and in March 1970, Gustavo Cisneros, only recently graduating from college, assumed the position of chairman and chief executive officer of Grupo Cisneros.

Univision: 1992–2007

In 1992, as part of a consortium of American businessman Jerry Perenchio, Mexican entrepreneur Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, and Grupo Cisneros bought Univision for $500 million. Grupo Cisneros held a 25% stake in Univision and 12.5% stake in the Univision Communications (now TelevisaUnivision). The Grupo Cisneros' ownership of stake in Univision led to the broadcast of Venevision telenovelas from Venezuela, & eventually, to the co-production partnership of Venevision International and Univision Communications of telenovelas. The consortium ended up selling Univision for $13.7 billion in 2007. [6]

DirecTV Latin America/Vrio: 1995–present

In 1995, Grupo Cisneros partnered with Hughes Electronics Corporation to provide all-digital direct-to-home satellite television service throughout Latin America.

Grupo Cisneros: 2013–present

In August 2013, Gustavo Cisneros appointed daughter Adriana Cisneros de Griffin as the new chief executive officer of Grupo Cisneros. [7] [8] Adriana had previously spent five years working as Vice President of Strategy. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Current activity

The creation of Venevision International (currently Cisneros Media Distribution), which handles the distribution, marketing and production of entertainment content, significantly increased the international scope of the conglomerate's operations. Cisneros Media Distribution is currently one of the main programming suppliers for Univision, the leading Spanish-language television network in the United States. [13]

In 2011, Grupo Cisneros established joint ventures with Chinese partners. [14]

In November 2016, Adriana Cisneros Interactive started a partnership with Facebook Latin America to be its exclusive reseller in Latin American countries including Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. [15]

As of 2019, Grupo Cisneros is the last independent media outlet in Venezuela. [11]

Companies

The companies belonging to Cisneros include majority and minority stock interests in several corporations that are managed both directly or indirectly through partnerships, risk-sharing companies or alliances. Cisneros' companies are grouped into the following corporate divisions:

Cisneros Media

Cisneros' business unit, which includes its television broadcasting, production, content distribution, music and beauty contest companies.

Free-to-air and paid television channels

  • Venevisión largest television network in Venezuela, Its free-to-air signal covers entire the country. [16]
  • Venevisión Plus: A subscription channel distributed internationally that offers 250 hours a month of programming in Spanish. Venevisión Plus is currently present throughout Latin America in its various feeds
  • Ve Plus TV: Formerly known as Novelísima, Ve Plus TV is a soap opera and entertainment channel with diverse programming such as talk shows, variety shows and comedy programs. [17]
  • VmasTV: Subscription entertainment channel directed to Colombian audiences, with various genres and formats, such as: drama, reality shows, comedy, and contests

Content and distribution

Venevision Studios in Miami Estudios de Venevision en Miami.jpg
Venevisión Studios in Miami
  • Cisneros Media Distribution: Formerly known as Venevisión International, Cisneros Media Distribution is an entertainment company with more than 30 years’ experience in Spanish content distribution produced by Cisneros and other companies.
  • Venevisión Productions: The largest independent Hispanic production company in the United States. Its programming is distributed internationally to over 90 countries around the world.
  • Venevisión Studios: A facility for the production of television programming. It has six studios consisting of over 26,000 square meters, digital cameras, digital AES, which has the ability to produce programs for high-definition.

Entertainment and music

  • Miss Venezuela: The Miss Venezuela beauty pageant is now a multimedia event. During the Interactive Gala, the public can vote for their preferred candidate through social media networks. In 2013, the Miss Venezuela contest partnered with CIC Media and Sony Entertainment to create a reality show titled “Todo por la Corona” [All For the Crown] which was broadcast throughout Latin America by Univision. Similarly, in 2013 it partnered with P&G to create pan-regional product and works with 30 brands.
  • VeneMusic: A record label belonging to Venevisión International, which produces, promotes and distributes Latin music from various genres, including television theme songs from Cisneros TV productions.
  • Siente Music: A joint venture between Vene Music and Universal Music Latino, the award-winning division of Universal Music Group.

Cisneros Interactive

A corporate division of Cisneros develops digital businesses for Hispanic audiences in the United States and Latin America. Its business strategy is focused on two main areas: digital advertisement, both online and mobile, and e-commerce. Its main companies are:

Cisneros Real Estate

Cisneros' real estate division is in charge of developing and positioning the company's real estate investments which include commercial, industrial and residential properties located in various countries.

Consumer Products and Services

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venevisión</span> Venezuelan private television channel founded in 1961

Venevisión is a Venezuelan free-to-air television channel and one of Venezuela's largest television networks, owned by the Cisneros Media division of Grupo Cisneros.

UniMás is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is aimed at Hispanic Americans in the 18–34 age range, includes telenovelas and other serialized drama series, sports, sitcoms, reruns of imported series previously aired on parent network Univision, reality and variety series, and theatrically released feature films.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Cisneros</span> Venezuelan media mogul (1945–2023)

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Alejandrina “Nina” Sicilia Hernández is a Venezuelan model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss International 1985 in Japan. she was the first Miss International from Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ve Plus TV</span> Television channel

VePlus is a subscription channel owned by Cisneros Media and serves as an updated version of their previous channel, Venevisión Continental. It was also known as Novelísima, Ve Plus TV and V Mas TV, a subsidiary of Grupo Cisneros. VePlus incorporates much of the programming from Venevisión Continental and Novelísima, while also producing its own content in Venezuela and Miami.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TelevisaUnivision</span> Mexican-American media company

TelevisaUnivision is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City that owns American Spanish language broadcast network Univision and free-to-air channels in Mexico such as Las Estrellas, Canal 5, Foro, and NU9VE alongside a collection of specialty television channels and production studios. 45% of the company is held by the Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company Grupo Televisa, which was a major programming partner for Univision until the company sold their content assets to Univision in 2022.

TeleVisa, officially known as the Televisión Independiente, S.A. became the first privately owned television station to begin operations in Venezuela. It was the second television station to begin operations after the state-owned Televisora Nacional. In 1960, Televisa was purchased by Diego Cisneros and re-branded as Venevisión and became in business' Cisneros family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cisneros Media</span> Spanish-language media company

Cisneros Media (CMD), also known as Venevision International, is an American-based entertainment company that broadcasts Spanish-language television worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Univision</span> American Spanish-language free-to-air television network

Univision is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes telenovelas and other drama series, sports, sitcoms, reality and variety series, news programming, and imported Spanish-language feature films. Univision is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and has its major studios, production facilities, and business operations based in Doral, Florida.

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References

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  2. Adams, Susan (May 6, 2011). "Adriana Cisneros and Gustavo Cisneros of Cisneros Group". Forbes .
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  8. Tv Más Magazine, Adriana Cisneros appointed CEO of Cisneros
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  11. 1 2 Collins, Tim; Cisneros, Adriana (February 1, 2017). "A Conversation with Adriana Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros, a Becton Fellowship Program" (Video). Yale School of Management .
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  13. El Universal, Univisión líder de audiencia por primera vez en Estados Unidos|El Universal, Univisión líder de audiencia por primera vez en Estados Unidos
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