Grupo Abril


Grupo Abril is a Brazilian media conglomerate headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the holding company of Editora Abril, which publishes the weekly newsmagazine Veja.

History and profile

, an Italian businessman, founded Editora Abril in 1950, which was the first publisher of Walt Disney comics in Brazil. He also published other comics and books. Gradually, he developed magazines for specific markets. In the 1960s, with his son Roberto Civita, he expanded to publishing several market-specific magazines, such as Quatro Rodas, Claudia, and others. Veja, the weekly newsmagazine, was founded in 1968 and led by the younger Civita.
Abril had several partnerships in the emerging Brazilian pay TV market during the 90s, including local franchises of American channels such as Disney, MTV and ESPN. The company also entered in cable TV provider service with TVA and in the satellite television market with local version of HD TV.
With exception of MTV and TVA, all properties were sold until beginning of the 2000s. In 2007, Fiz TV and Ideal channels were launched in an effort to return to the pay TV market, but was a failure and the project was discontinued in 2009. Later, TVA was completely sold to Telefónica in 2012, MTV brand was returned to Viacom and its broadcast network was sold to Grupo Spring, which publishes the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stones, in the end of 2013.
Grupo Abril also is the owner of Fernando Chinaglia, the largest distributor of publications in Latin America, acquired in 2007.
In addition to its media interests, the group has entered the education market, with assets that produce many curriculum and instructional materials, including internet applications.
Today, the group is chaired by Fábio Barbosa, after the death of Roberto Civita on May 26, 2013.

Assets

Abril Mídia

Magazines

Publishers

Abril Vídeo was a home video division for TV shows, videos and movies on VHS. Began operation on April 6, 1983 and closed in 1999. It distributed Brazilian tapes of The Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox movies.