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Grupo Clarín S.A. is an Argentine
media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...
headquartered in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
.


Overview

Established as such in 1999, it includes the newspaper (the most-widely circulated in Latin America), Papel Prensa (the nation's principal
newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...
manufacturer), Cablevisión
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
, the Artear media company, and numerous other media outlets. Rooted in the successful 1945 launch of the centrist daily, , by the late Roberto Noble, the group is active within the publishing, newspaper, television, radio, and telecommunications industries. Its largest shareholder was Ernestina Herrera de Noble. Other major shareholders include Héctor Magnetto, José Antonio Aranda, Lucio Rafael Pagliaro, and the investment bank
Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
. Magnetto is the President and CEO of the media group, while Ernestina Herrera de Noble directs the flagship newspaper. Having become the largest newspaper distributor in the Spanish-speaking world by 1980 (when its revenues topped US$900 million), the group diversified itself significantly in 1990, when it entered into the television sector with the acquisition of Channel 13, and into radio with the purchase of Radio Mitre. Following the expansion into cable television in 1992 (Multicanal),
Todo Noticias TN (formerly known as ''Todo Noticias'' () is an Argentine Pay television, pay and Streaming television, streaming List of news television channels, news television channel owned by the Clarín Group and its subsidiary, Artear. The channel bega ...
, the group's cable news channel, was established in 1993 and remains one of the most influential in its sector. The conglomerate also controls Patagonik Film Group and numerous regional newspapers (notably '' Los Andes'' of Mendoza and '' La Voz del Interior'' of Córdoba). Grupo Clarín was listed on the
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
and
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
s in 2007, upon which a 20% share in the group was made available to stockholders (leaving 9% for Goldman Sachs, and 71% for its private shareholders). The group's revenues in 2011 were accounted for mainly by its cable television units (principally Cablevisión and Multicanal), which accounted for 46% of sales, and by
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
revenues (22%).
Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
Prima S.A. yielded 14% of total revenues, and the Group's numerous publishing interests netted 9% of the total; and rights to broadcasting, programming and digital content accounted for most of the remainder. Goldman Sachs sold its 9% share in the group to Fontinalis Partners equity fund CEO Ralph Booth in 2012. Amid ongoing controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism over a 2009
antitrust law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
that would limit the number of radio and television licenses held by the Clarín Group, the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA) enjoined the group on December 17, 2012, to divest itself of its majority stake in Cablevisión and of up to 213 broadcast licenses that would exceed the number stipulated by law; the 2009 Audiovisual Services Law allows companies to have 24 cable licenses and 10
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
licenses for radio and television, and to cover no more than 35% of the
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
population.


Debt default and political influence

One of Grupo Clarín's holdings is the cable company Multicanal S.A. In the early 2000s, Multicanal defaulted on payments to holders of its Notes. According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records, Grupo Clarín made political moves that ultimately ended up hindering the ability of the Note holders from getting paid back.Gropper, Allan L., Judge
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. 2004-08-27.
In 2002, Argentina was in a financial and economic crisis. Argentina's peso was tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, but in 2002 the government let the value of the peso float. As a result, the value of the peso went down 75% relative to the value of the U.S. dollar in just four months. Multicanal bought programming from the United States. The peso devaluation, along with the country's restrictions on access to U.S. dollars, made it expensive for Multicanal to purchase that programming. Multicanal also struggled to make interest payments on its approximately US$509 million in debt. By April 2002, Multicanal defaulted on all of its payments to the holders of its Notes. When Multicanal went into bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, a group of investors and holders of Multicanal's Notes (a group referred to as "Huff"), filed a petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Huff had filed cases in New York State Courts to try and get Multicanal to pay back those Notes, Multicanal had filed what is known as a § 304 petition because Multicanal did not want to have to pay Huff for its overdue payments on Notes. A new 2003 Argentina law, which Grupo Clarín had successfully lobbied to pass, made it difficult for Huff and the holders of the Notes. The law limited how much stock in a communications company could be owned by people outside of Argentina. Huff later complained that the law gave Clarin and Multicanal an unfair advantage.


Companies and brands

Some of the companies that form part of the conglomerate are:


Notes


References


External links

* {{coord, 34, 37, 44, S, 58, 22, 36, W, display=title Mass media companies of Argentina Mass media companies established in 1999 Conglomerate companies of Argentina 1999 establishments in Argentina Entertainment companies established in 1999 Companies of Argentina Television networks in Argentina Mass media in Argentina Radio stations in Argentina Radio in Argentina Newspapers established in 1999 Daily newspapers published in Argentina