Grupo Cisneros


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.

History

D. Cisneros & Cia.: 1929-1953

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. 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.
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 one of Televisa's investments 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 27 February 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 station group. The consortium ended up selling Univision for $13.7 billion in 2007.

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. Adriana had previously spent five years working as Vice President of Strategy.

Current activity

The creation of Venevision International, 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. Parallel to company dealings,
In 2011, Grupo Cisneros established joint ventures with Chinese partners.
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.
As of 2019, Grupo Cisneros is the last independent media outlet in Venezuela.

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

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.

Fundación Cisneros

The Diego Cisneros Foundation was created in In 1968. Later renamed the Fundación Cisneros in April 1970, it is a private non-profit organization committed to improving education in Latin America. It supports various important educational initiatives designed to promote freedom of speech, economic development and encourage multicultural understanding. It is made up of two segments: Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Fundación Cisneros Education.

Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

is a privately held Latin American art organization based in Venezuela and New York City founded by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Gustavo Cisneros. As her art collection grew, Patty Cisneros saw that Latin American art was under-represented in the international art community, so the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros was formed in the 1990s, with a goal of bringing visibility and impact to the way Latin American art history is viewed and appreciated. That effort has included a four-pronged approach: An ambitious approach to lending artworks around the world, working with scholars and academics to learn more about the artists and their works, the creation of a publications program to provide supporting information about the artists and their work, and building an online forum for the artwork. The collection is organized in five categories that are areas of focus: Modern art, Contemporary art, Colonial art, the Orinoco collection, which is an ethnographic collection that traces the cultural production of 12 indigenous groups from the Orinoco River Basin, and the Traveler Artists to Latin America collection. Cisneros and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros have long-term relationships with various cultural institutions globally. Among these are Tate Modern, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, among many others.

Fundación Cisneros Education

The Fundación Cisneros Education has developed various educational and cultural initiatives, such as:
In addition to activities undertaken by the Fundación Cisneros, each company has programs in the regions where they operate: