El Comercio Group (GEC) is a Peruvian media conglomerate that owns multiple newspapers, television stations and other entities. The largest media conglomerate in Peru and one of the largest in South America, 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 channel.

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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, 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 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 ''Perú.21'' is a Peruvian newspaper based in Lima. Background In 2002, ''Perú.21'' was founded by the economist Augusto Álvarez Rodrich, and it has quickly become one of the leading newspapers of Peru, known for its provocative caricatures an ...

'' 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

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and Keiko Fujimori'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 Augusto Aníbal Álvarez Rodrich (born 12 October 1959) is a Peruvian economist and journalist who works in print, radio and television. Early life and education Rodrich was born in Lima, Peru. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at th ...

, those included in the Operation Caledonia group included owner of

Willax Televisión Willax Televisión (commonly known as Willax, from Quechuan languages, Quechua ''willaq'' ‘narrator, informant’) is a Peruvian television channel. It began as an internet channel in 2010 with a television channel launching later that year. ...

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, 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, including President Alan García and Keiko Fujimori. 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 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 Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common law ...

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'' 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 –

and its subsidiaries, América Televisión,

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

References