Senor Abravanel, known professionally as Silvio Santos (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: /ˈsiwvju ˈsɐ̃tus/) (born December 12, 1930), is a Brazilian entrepreneur, media tycoon and television host. He is the owner of holdings that include

SBT sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala (programming language), Scala and Java (programming language), Java projects, similar to Apache Software Foundation, Apache's Apache Maven, Maven and Gradle. Its main features are: *Native support fo ...

, the second largest

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

in the country. His net worth was US$3.2 billion in 2020.Meet TV Star Silvio Santos, Brazil's First Ever Celebrity Billionaire
/ref> He is the host of the second longest running Brazilian program: ''

Programa Silvio Santos ''Programa Silvio Santos'' is a Brazilian variety program presented and created by Silvio Santos and broadcast by Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT). Airing since June 2, 1963, it is the second oldest television program in Brazil. It is the m ...

'', aired since 1963. He is also the only celebrity in the country on the list of billionaires by

Forbes magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also repo ...

. The magazine also states that "there is no one more famous than Silvio Santos in Brazil."

Early life

Abravanel is the son of

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Jewish immigrants born in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. His father, Alberto Abravanel, was born in

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

(today

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

) in 1897, and his mother, Rebecca Caro, was born in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

(today

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) in 1907. Both died in Rio de Janeiro (in 1976 and 1989 respectively) and are buried side by side in the Jewish Cemetery of Caju in Rio de Janeiro city. On his paternal side, Silvio Santos is a descendant of

Isaac Abravanel Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel ( he, יצחק בן יהודה אברבנאל;‎ 1437–1508), commonly referred to as Abarbanel (), also spelled Abravanel, Avravanel, or Abrabanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator ...

. Abravanel worked on the streets of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

as a street vendor at the age of 14. During this period, he was invited to work in a radio station, but as he made more money as a street vendor, he left the broadcaster job a month later. Later he went to São Paulo and after taking several different jobs that included prize raffling, he got a part on a television show that was a success. About the same time he bought the company (Baú da Felicidade pt) and in a short time expanded the leading brand of the group, which would be the starting point for Silvio to become one of the main names of Brazilian media.

Finances and involvement in politics

With a net worth of US$3.2 billion, Santos is the single biggest individual/natural person taxpayer in Brazil. In 1976, he started to fight for the rights of having his own television network, as he wanted to expand his prizes raffling. In 1981, he finally obtained permission to operate what would become TVS, in São Paulo. The TV channel expanded very quickly and became what today is known as SBT (acronym for

Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão The Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (; SBT ; "Brazilian Television System") is a Brazilian television network founded on Wednesday, 19 August 1981, by the businessman and television personality Silvio Santos. The company was established after ...

, translation: "Brazilian Television System"), a brand that would be widespread throughout the country by the end of the 80s and early 90s. Santos also tried to get involved in politics and ran for president in 1989. In 2008, Grupo Silvio Santos turned 50 and consisted of 44 companies, with ventures that ranged from agribusiness to banks and hotels.

Social impact

Santos is also responsible for providing access to international TV programming, such as ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

'', ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

'', ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is a popular and long-running American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes ...

'', ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and ...

'', '' Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?'', and ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

''. Instead of just broadcasting these shows – which are mostly on pay TV channels – he created Brazilian versions so that people could not only watch the shows, but also participate in them as contestants buying the products of their sponsors or even other investments. His trajectory has led to many comparisons between him and

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

. Due to his extremely charismatic personality, Silvio became and is still one of the most influential and beloved people in Brazil. Due to his peculiar mannerisms, impersonations of him have become a staple of Brazilian humor. Santos's other trademark is wearing a full-size

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

on his chest (although he would eventually abandon this practice in late 2014).

References

;General sources *

External links

*
Official SBT site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Silvio 1930 births Living people People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian people of Greek-Jewish descent Brazilian people of Turkish-Jewish descent Brazilian Sephardi Jews Brazilian businesspeople Brazilian billionaires Brazilian game show hosts Brazilian television presenters Brazilian television company founders Brazilian media executives Businesspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) Kidnapped Brazilian people 20th-century Sephardi Jews 21st-century Sephardi Jews Abravanel family Grupo Silvio Santos

Early life

Finances and involvement in politics

Social impact

See also

References

Further reading

External links