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]
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| Company type | Private |
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| Founded | 1929; 95 years ago (1929) as D. Cisneros & Cia. in Venezuela |
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Key people | Adriana Cisneros (CEO) |
Number of employees | 800 (2023)[1] |
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| Website | cisneros |
Grupo Cisneros was founded in 1929 in VenezuelabyDiego 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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
In 1995, Grupo Cisneros partnered with Hughes Electronics Corporation to provide all-digital direct-to-home satellite television service throughout Latin America.
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]
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]
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' business unit, which includes its television broadcasting, production, content distribution, music and beauty contest companies.
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 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.