El Comercio Group (GEC) is a

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, 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, theme parks, or the Internet. According to the ...

that owns multiple

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

and other entities. The largest media conglomerate in Peru and one of the largest in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, El Comercio Group is owned by the owned by the Miró Quesada family.

History

The newspaper '' El Comercio'' was founded by Manuel Amunátegui and Alejandro Villota on 4 May 1839. Originally founded as Infobanco-Teleinformative Services in 1991, would later change to Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A on 1 July 1996.

Canal N Canal N is a Peruvian pay television news channel in Peru. It was founded as a joint venture between El Comercio and Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It ...

was launched as a news channel on 4 July 1999 as a

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but ...

channel. Plural TV Group was launched on 5 March 2003 in a partnership between El Comercio Group and La República Group, with El Comercio owning seventy percent of Plural TV while La República owned the remaining thirty percent. Canal N,

América Televisión América Televisión is a Peruvian television network, founded in 1958. The network is owned by Plural TV, which is a joint venture of the '' El Comercio'' and ''La República'' daily newspapers. It was the second television channel to be fou ...

, Radio América and Disney Radio Peru were then managed by Plural TV Group.

Epensa purchase

El Comercio Group acquired Empresa Periodistica Nacional SA (Epensa) in August 2013, resulting with the group owning 80% of the printed press in Peru. Following the controversial acquisition of Epensa, the company began to diversify its operations in 2014, changing its name from Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A. to Vigenta Inversiones S.A. and some of its naming from El Comercio Group to Ecomedia. El Comercio Group also began to enter into the education and entertainment market in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at the same time.

Operation Caledonia

In 2019, '' Perú.21'' reported that a group of Peruvian investors secretly tried to purchase the journalist branch of El Comercio Group in what was called "Operation Caledonia", attempting to do so with the help of former

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

and

Keiko Fujimori Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi (; ja, 藤森恵子, Fujimori Keiko; born 25 May 1975) is a Peruvian politician. Fujimori is the eldest daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and Susana Higuchi. From August 1994 to November 2000, ...

's former advisor,

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

. According to journalist Augusto Álvarez Rodrich, those included in the Operation Caledonia group included owner of Willax Televisión Erasmo Wong Lu, Peruvian businessman and owner of '' Expreso''

Rafael López Aliaga Rafael Bernardo López Aliaga Cazorla (born 11 February 1961) is a Peruvian businessman and politician, who is serving as mayor of Lima since 2023. He is currently the leader of Popular Renewal Entering politics late in his career, López Alia ...

and

Popular Force People's Force ( es, Fuerza Popular, FP), known as Force 2011 ( es, Fuerza 2011, links=no) until 2012, is a right-wing populist and Fujimorist political party in Peru. The party is led by Keiko Fujimori, former congresswoman and daughter of form ...

politician

José Chlimper José Chlimper Ackerman (born June 12, 1955) is a Peruvian banker and politician. In 1996, he was elected alderman of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, and served one term, ending in 1998. From 28 July 2000 to 25 November 2000, he served a ...

Influence

El Comercio Group is the largest media conglomerate in Peru and one of the largest in South America. The company has typically supported political candidates supportive of

right-wing politics Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...

, including President

Alan García Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez (; 23 May 1949 – 17 April 2019) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru The president of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente del Perú), officially called the president of the Republic of ...

and

. The 2013 acquisition of Epensa was controversial to some observers who noted that the purchase of Epensa moved the conglomerate from owning fifty percent of Peru's newspapers purchased up to owning seventy-eight percent of sales. To these observers, the acquisition allowed El Comercio group to limit press freedom by controlling opinions published in their newspapers, though El Comercio Group denied such allegations. President

Ollanta Humala Lieutenant colonel Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso (; born 27 June 1962) is a Peruvian politician and former military officer who served as President of Peru from 2011 to 2016. Originally a socialist and left-wing nationalist, he is considered ...

denounced the acquisition saying that the move gave the conglomerate too much influence and called on legislators to oversee the controversy. Eight journalists in November 2013 filed a lawsuit in Peru's Constitutional Court to block the acquisition of Epensa and on 24 June 2021, Judge Juan Macedo Cuenca ruled to nullify the purchase citing "a violation of the constitutional right of freedom of expression and information - information pluralism". El Comercio Group decided to appeal the judge's decision. One of the company's main shareholders José Alejandro Graña Miró Quesada of the Miró Quesada family was arrested in late 2017 after his Graña & Montero construction company was involved in the Odebrecht scandal.

Company units

El Comercio Group is divided into four Business Units: * Press Business Unit – The company owns the top five selling newspapers in Peru; ''Trome'', ''Ojo'', ''Correo'', '' El Comercio'' and '' Peru.21''. Other press entities include ''Depor'', ''El Bocón'', ''Gestión'', ''Revista Aptitus'',''Revista Casa & Más'', ''Revista Hola Perú'', ''Revista G'', ''Revista Mujer Actual'', ''Revista Mujer Trome'', ''Revista Ruedas & Nuts'', ''Revista Somos'', ''Revista Urbania Premiun'' and ''Revista Vamos''. El Comercio Group also controls the distribution of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

Publimetro Metro International is a Swedish global media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the ''Metro'' newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent since launch of the first news ...

'' in Peru. * Television Business Unit – Plural TV Group and its subsidiaries,

, Radio América and Disney Radio Peru. * Digital Business Unit – ComercioXpress, Lumingo, Neoauto and PagoEfectivo * Services Business Unit – Amauta Impresiones Comerciales

References

{{reflist Mass media in Lima