Gustavo Cisneros

Gustavo Alfredo Cisneros Rendiles OL (Caracas, June 1, 1945) is a Venezuelan businessman and investor, he is the president of the Board of Directors of Cisneros, (formerly called the Cisneros Organization), Spanish-language media and entertainment company, encompassing companies such as Venevisión, Cisneros Media, a global Spanish-language entertainment company, Cisneros Studios, a telenovela provider and producer, and the Miss Venezuela Organization, among others.

He has received the orders of Venezuela del Libertador, Andrés Bello and Francisco de Miranda. Currently he also has Dominican and Spanish nationality.

Biography

Youth and studies

He was born in Caracas in 1945, as the fourth son of Diego Cisneros, a Cuban businessman in the transportation industry in Venezuela, who had emigrated to that country from Cuba, where he managed to consolidate the family business after years of work. Gustavo attended the Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola in Caracas (1956 - 1960).

This allowed Diego Cisneros to provide his children with the best education possible, and he decided to send his son Gustavo to the United States, where he studied high school at Suffield Academy in Connecticut. He then attended Babson College (Class of 1968) in Wellesley (Massachusetts), where he studied Business Administration, graduating with honors Cum Laude .

Cisneros returned to Venezuela after the deterioration of his father's health, which caused him to assume the presidency of the Cisneros Organization in 1970, at only 25 years of age and since then, he would dedicate himself to the expansion national and international of it, managing to improve and transform the family business into an international corporation, and turning him and his family into the second fortune of South America, at a given time.

Career

Background

The Cisneros family business group had already taken its first diversification and growth actions at the beginning, making the small primary transportation business in Venezuela become a leading national company in the field.

To this was added the progressive economic growth of the company, endorsed by other profitable projects, including the concession to bottle and distribute Pepsi Cola in Venezuela, obtained in 1939, where it managed to prevail over the main competitor in the sector, Coca Cola, making Venezuela the only country in the world where more than 70% of the entire population favored Pepsi Cola as a product from the beginning of the 1940s until the beginning of 1985.

In addition, they also obtained the concession to market said product in Brazil, a market of more than 165 million people, becoming the largest bottler of Pepsi Cola International.

Similarly, the 1940s had represented more business acquisitions for Diego Cisneros, with the Liquid Carbonic Foundation (a company dedicated to the production of liquefied gases and related products) and the representation of Studebaker automobiles In Venezuela.

Also for the 1950s, beginning with the founding of Helados Tío Rico and then in 1952, an internal reorganization process was carried out, with a view to fully and systematically integrating all the business operations of the Cisneros Organization.

Equally, after the drastic political change that represented the fall of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958, many companies suffered severe setbacks, among them was one of Televisa's investments in Venezuela, Televisión Venezolana Independiente S.A, (Televisa) (with no relation to the current Grupo Televisa de México), which after succumbing to bankruptcy, was bought by Diego Cisneros in 1960, with the government help of then President Rómulo Betancourt, The Venevisión channel was inaugurated on February 27, 1961, to later start uninterrupted transmissions on March 1 of that same year.

In a few years, thanks to agreements with multinational chains such as the American ABC, Venevisión became one of the largest and most important television stations in Venezuela and Latin America, an expert in soap operas and television programs such as Super Sábado Sensacional, which would become one of the most recognized and successful.

One of the last actions undertaken by Gustavo Cisneros and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros was the creation of the Fundación Cisneros, a non-profit organization whose objective is support democratic values, stimulate private initiative and promote free market values.

Shortly thereafter, Diego Cisneros's deteriorating health forced him to leave the board of directors of the Cisneros Organization, which by then, with its economic operations, had become one of the most important companies in the country, the which is currently called Cisneros.

Businessman

Current Logo of the Cisneros Organization

After completing his Administration studies in 1968, Gustavo Cisneros returned to Venezuela, with the mission of assuming the presidency of Cisneros. In 1970, Gustavo Cisneros assumed the positions of President of the Board of Directors and Director of the Cisneros Organization, while his brother, Ricardo J. Cisneros was appointed as Director of Operations of the business group.

The conglomerate of companies by then had an optimal situation within the national economy, but Cisneros' aspiration was to materialize the internationalization of the business group.

With a view to achieving this objective, the foundation and progressive acquisition of all types of companies and the obtaining of numerous concessions were proposed, in order to diversify the Organization.

In 1970 the company Gaveplast was founded, dedicated to manufacturing gaveras to transport bottles of Pepsi Cola and third parties. Later in 1974, O' Caña Distributors, a company dedicated to the distribution of imported liquors, begins operations in Venezuela, founded by the Organization and the same year, is also in charge of establishing Radiovisión, a national radio network with operations and signal throughout Venezuela. To this is added, in 1975, the acquisition by Gustavo Cisneros of the CADA supermarket chain, which became the largest and most present in Venezuela, until its sale in 1995 and expropriation in 2010.

Other actions carried out by Gustavo Cisneros were obtaining the representation of the NCR Corporation, through the company Sistemas Summa. Later, in 1976, Cisneros founded Pharsana de Venezuela to market and distribute Chicco brand baby care products through Laboratorios Fisa and Distribuidora Kapina S.A, companies that become leaders in the field of personal care products in Venezuela.

Gustavo taking the reins of the business, diversified the activities of the company, acquiring others, obtaining investments in several companies in different branches and forming numerous subsidiaries, thus shaping the current structure of Cisneros, a company that became a of the private media, digital media, entertainment, telecommunications, and consumer products entities with the greatest presence in Latin America, the United States, and some countries in Asia and Europe. The turnaround made Cisneros start owning investments in companies that ranged from television broadcasting and production and telecommunications to tourism and beverage developments, diversified by venturing into a wide variety of industries, but entertainment was always at the core of its operations.

Already in the 1980s, the process of diversifying operations made it possible for the Cisneros Organization to aspire to start the internationalization process. Under this process, Cisneros further strengthens its operations in Venezuela and presses for more concessions from other companies.

Thus, in Cagua, Venezuela, the distribution center Antonio José Cisneros Rendiles, Altran opens, the largest warehouse and distribution center for consumer products in Latin America. The Rodven Group of Companies is established to manufacture audio and video discs and cassettes, at the same time that it obtains the exclusive rights to operate the Burger King chain in Venezuela.

Later in 1981, Cisneros obtained the rights to the beauty pageant, Miss Venezuela, for Venevisión. The policy of diversification and obtaining concessions paid off in the same year, obtaining All American Bottling, one of the largest soft drink bottling companies in the United States, at the same time that it obtained the reorganization of Proyectos Pet, C.A., which becomes the bottler and distributor of the Hit and Pepsi-Cola products, also obtaining another concession, this time for the distribution and marketing of the French' s, Spalding Evenflo and Cherry Blossom.

In 1982, the Commerce Union Bank joined the Cisneros Organization, at the same time that Cisneros founded Televisión Latina, a company that began distributing television productions. Venevisión in the US Hispanic market. Internationalization had begun, Cisneros now presided over the most notorious business conglomerate in Venezuela and which began to operate in other Latin American countries and in the United States.

Throughout the decade, Cisneros achieved even more successes in the business sphere, obtaining the concession for the exclusive distribution in Venezuela of the products of the U.S. Digital Equipment Corporation, becomes the representative of Sears Roebuck and Company, in Venezuela, changing the name to Maxy's, which becomes the largest chain of stores in Venezuela, obtains the concession to operate Pizza Hut in the country, opens Saeca Travel, the main national travel agency, acquires Galerías Preciados, in Spain and obtains the exclusive representation of Apple products in Venezuela, joins Evenflo and Spalding, acquires Cinematik, a film production company, Yukery Venezolana de Alimentos, a leading corporation in the food industry and integrates to its portfolio of brands, Minalba and San Bernardo waters.

He also opens London's Paternoster Square, a large-scale office and retail development, jointly managed with Park Tower Realty, Greycoat and Mitsubishi Estates. Also, in 1988, it acquired Videomovil Color, C.A., a video production company and created a division of “Desarrollo Minero” to start working on the primary aluminum smelting plant. of Venezuela, called Aluyana, C.A.

In that same year, Cisneros helped found Televen along with Omar Camero, Guillermo "Fantástico" González and Alberto Federico Ravell; but due to the reform of a law, which prohibited a single person from having more than one television or radio channel, they sold their shares together with the future owner of Globovisión -Ravell- and Guillermo González to Camero.

Later, in 1989, Venevisión International was launched to distribute productions of the Cisneros Organization and third parties in international markets and in the US Hispanic market.

With the arrival of the 90s, it had already managed to materialize the beginning of the internationalization of its business operations, but now the consolidation in those markets where they already participated was crucial.

Continued to acquire concessions and companies throughout the decade, such as Chilevisión (which it held until its sale in 2005), Cervecería Regional, Univision Communications, Pueblo Xtra International, Caribbean Communications Network Ltd, Imagen Satelital, Caracol Televisión and MuchMusic Argentina, all companies acquired by the Cisneros Organization, as well as a series of new projects and businesses launched by the same as AOL Latin America (Joint Project with AOL), the formation of Ibero-American Radio Chile, the joint launch with Hughes Electronics Corporation of Galaxy Latin America, which later became DIRECTV Latin America, the formation of Cisneros Television Group Ibero-American Media Partner, and Claxson Interactive Group companies aimed at increasing investment and participation of the Cisneros Organization, nationally and internationally, focusing in the markets of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Similarly, Cisneros launches Americatel, a digital communications interconnection service in Venezuela, which uses technology developed by Motorola, and also obtains two concessions, one for Sistema Teracom C.A., which allows it to become in the exclusive distributor of Fujitsu and Stratus Computer in Venezuela; and the second, the authorization to exclusively operate Blockbuster in several Latin American countries. He also launches the Cl @ se channel, a medium for educational purposes and founds the Business Services Provider of Venezuela C.A.

Finally, another maneuver was the break between Gustavo Cisneros and Pepsi-Cola, due to Pepsi-Cola's refusal to grant more favorable conditions to the Cisneros Organization, and its alliance with Coca Cola, thus creating Hit Venezuela, which reversed Pepsi's privileged position in the Venezuelan market and caused Coca Cola to own 16% of the entire soft drink market in Venezuela, which was followed by an alliance between this new company and the the main bottling company in the United States, Panamerican Beverages Inc. (Panamco). Pepsi Venezuela years later would pass into the hands of Empresas Polar.

Currently several of the brands of the aforementioned producers are no longer in the hands of the organization, currently focusing more on investments related to media and entertainment. The companies that make up Cisneros today operate in approximately 50 countries between America, Asia and Europe; 3,200 people in the United States work for the conglomerate.

By the beginning of the new millennium, Gustavo Cisneros had positioned himself as the wealthiest and most influential Venezuelan, with a fortune of more than US$4 billion, according to Forbes magazine, and holding notorious political and economic influence. He had generally ranked first among the richest men in Venezuela, until 2017.

He was listed in 2010 by the New York Times, together with his wife Patricia Phelps, as the most influential couple in Latin America. Cisneros also attended the 2010 meeting of the Bilderberg Group.

In August 2013, Gustavo Cisneros named his daughter Adriana Cisneros as the new CEO and Vice Chairman of Cisneros, marking the third generation Cisneros to take the helm of the global media conglomerate and a transition model of a company family from Latin America. Gustavo Cisneros continues in his position as Chairman and works with his daughter on business strategies.

In October 2015, Gustavo Cisneros presented his book “Los Cisneros: Faces and traces of a family. 1570-2015” at the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, Spain. The work, written by José Ángel Rodríguez, reviews the Ibero-American family lineage, highlighting the contribution of the Cisneros family for more than 400 years to education, culture and the arts in space and time.

In February 2016, Gustavo Cisneros and Adriana Cisneros presented the first phase of Tropicalia, an initiative of Cisneros Real Estate developed in the Dominican Republic. The President of the Republic, Danilo Medina; the Minister of Tourism, Francisco Javier García; the Minister of Public Works, Gonzalo Castillo, and Ricardo Suárez, representative of Four Seasons, were in charge of initiating the first sustainable luxury real estate tourism development.

Cisneros has a fortune estimated by Forbes Magazine at around 1.1 billion US dollars in 2018, despite starting down in 2014. These come from his numerous telecommunications and related companies, the most important being Cisneros Media, Cisneros Interactive, Cisneros Real Estate, Consumer Products and Services such as FISA Laboratories, Saeca and Americatel, all grouped under the same Cisneros company.

Political relationship, fortune and philanthropic activities

Gustavo Cisneros has been a leading figure as far as Venezuela is concerned. He is an ally and acquaintance of numerous presidents of that country, including Rafael Caldera, Carlos Andrés Pérez and Hugo Chávez, among others. Likewise, he has been related to numerous international personalities from politics, economy and diplomacy, such as Felipe González, President of the Government of Spain for more than a decade, Cuban President Fidel Castro, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, the billionaire David Rockefeller, George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, among many others.

Gustavo Cisneros is also a relevant figure in regards to relations between Venezuela and the United States, whose leaders have turned to the businessman on multiple occasions to discuss matters relating to the Caribbean country.

Cisneros is also an active member of the United Nations Communications and Informatics Commission, being appointed in 2001 to that post by the then UN Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kofi Annan.

He belongs to the board of directors of the American Art Society of the United States, he is one of the animators of Global Business Dialogue, a private entity dedicated to the analysis and promotion of all type of globalized business, and is International Director of the Society of the Americas, a non-profit organization that seeks to inform the public and US authorities about the Latin American reality.

Cisneros is an active director at various universities and museums, including the Rockefeller University of New York, the United States Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York and the Reina Sofía Spanish Institute in Madrid. In addition, he is a member of the International Advisory Council of the President of the Americas Society, the Board of Supervisors of the International Center for Economic Growth and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution.

Since the beginning of the administration of President Hugo Chávez, Cisneros has publicly opposed it, just as he has done against the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba.

In 2002, Venevisión decided not to broadcast public demonstrations in favor of Chávez, especially during the 2002 coup attempt and during the 2002-2003 oil strike, along with other private channels it broadcast information on opposition acts suppressing regular programming and without issuing advertising. For this reason, Chávez classified Venevisión as one of the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse —along with the other private television networks (Televen, RCTV and Globovisión).

This was confirmed by President Chávez himself in an Aló Presidente program when he said "there was no pact of honor with anyone, my only pact of honor is with the people themselves".^{[ citation required]} Cisneros, unlike Chávez, has been a defender of the neoliberal policies implemented by Carlos Andrés Pérez in his second presidency. Cisneros was also a defender of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a trade treaty for the Americas.^{[citation required]}

As a result of the non-renewal of the RCTV concession license, questions arose regarding Venevisión's obtaining the concession in May 2007. In order to clarify growing speculations, in a program broadcast by Venevisión on July 12 of 2007, Cisneros advocated for informational balance and stated that television channels cannot be protagonists of the Venezuelan political conflict. Likewise, in said program, Cisneros explained that Venevisión complied with all the requirements of the law to renew its broadcasting license. It was renewed for a period of five years and not twenty-five as originally requested, which is why Venevisión decided to appeal that decision.

Private life

Cisneros is the brother of fellow businessman Ricardo Cisneros, who owned the Leones del Caracas baseball team, as well as Carlos Cisneros, who died in an accident. His older brother's name, or eldest son, is Diego Alberto, who currently lives in Dallas, TX with two sons also named Diego.

He is also the cousin of Oswaldo Cisneros, current president and founder of Digitel, the third largest telecommunications company in Venezuela.

Gustavo Cisneros is married to the heiress of another of the great families of Venezuela, Patricia Phelps, a descendant of businessmen William H. Phelps Sr., founder of the 1BC Business Group, and grandfather of Patricia Phelps and William H. Phelps Jr. son of the former and founder of RCTV.

Acknowledgments

Cisneros is also a Spanish and Dominican national. He has also received numerous decorations and recognitions, such as the Order of the Liberator, in its class Gran Cordón, the highest recognition that a civilian can receive. aspire in Venezuela, the Andrés Bello Order in First Class and the Francisco de Miranda Order in its Second Class. He has also received the knighthood of the Order of Isabel la Católica, in Spain, and is a knight of the Order of Malta, among many other distinctions.

Honors

• 2001: International Emmy Directorate Award
• 2004: Smithsonian Institution, Woodrow Wilson Center, Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service
• 2005: MIPCOM, Personality of the Year
• Advertising Educational Foundation, Lifelong Award
• 2015: NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award He received it, with his daughter, Adriana Cisneros
• 2019: Honorary Doctorate in Laws by Babson College

Decorations

• 1979: Order Isabel la Católica, Grado Encomienda (1 necklace, 1 medallion, 1 button) – Spain
• 1999-01-22: National Order to Merit, in the Official Degree (3 medals) – Ecuador
• 1980: Knight of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Magistral Grace (6 medals, 2 buttons, 1 pin, 2 empty red boxes, 2 empty blue boxes) – Italy
• 1982-11-23: Order Merit to Work, First Class (1 medal. 1 button) – Venezuela
• 1983: Order Francisco de Miranda, First Class (1 medal, 1 button) – Venezuela
• 1983: Order Francisco de Miranda, Second Class (1 medal, 1 button) – Venezuela
• 1984-01-12: Orden Andrés Bello, Banda de Honor (1 medal, 1 button) – Venezuela
• 1984-05-16: Order Isabel la Católica, Encomienda de Número (1 collar, 1 plate, 4 medallions, 2 buttons) – Spain
• 1984-06-12: Order of the Liberator, Grand Officer, Second Class (1 medal, 1 button – Venezuela
• 1990-12: Order of the Liberator, Grand Cordon (2 medals, 1 button) – Venezuela
• 2004-10-30: Order of the Congress of Colombia at the Official Degree – Colombia
• 2004-10-30: Order of Democracy Simon Bolivar at the Grade of Gran Cruz – Colombia
• Order Diego de Losada, First Class (1 collar, 1 pin, 2 buttons) – Venezuela
• Order to Merit of the Public Prosecutor's Office, First Class (1 collar, 1 medallion, 2 buttons) – Venezuela
• Key of the city of Cartagena de Indias – Colombia
• Peasant culture Colombia ACPO (1 necklace) - Colombia