El Comercio Group

{{Short description|Peruvian publishing company}} {{Expand language|topic=|langcode=es|otherarticle=Grupo El Comercio|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox company | name = Empresa Editora El Comercio SA | logo = Grupo El Comercio logo.png | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | type = Public limited company | traded_as = {{BVL|ELCOMEI1}} | industry = Mass media | predecessor =  | founded = {{Start date and age|1996|07|01}} | founder =  | defunct =  | fate = | successor =  | hq_location_city = Lima | hq_location_country = Peru | area_served =  | key_people = | products = |revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = {{nowrap|{{increase}} PEN S/11.164 million (2024)<ref name=EC2024>{{cite web |title=Memoria Anual 2024 |url=https://grupoelcomercio.com.pe/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Memoria-Anual-2024_03.06.pdf |website=Grupo El Comercio |access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref>}} | assets = {{decrease}} PEN S/1.624 billion (2024)<ref name=EC2024/> | equity = | owner = Miró Quesada family | num_employees = 884<ref name=EC2020>{{cite web |title=Memoria Anual 2020 |url=https://grupoelcomercio.com.pe/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Memoria-Anual-El-Comercio-2020.pdf |website=Grupo El Comercial |access-date=7 July 2021}}</ref> | num_employees_year = 2020 | parent = | website = {{URL|grupoelcomercio.com.pe}} }} '''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 Miró Quesada family.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2021-05-19|title=Dismissal of news director of Peru's main television stations worsens credibility crisis in the press during polarized elections|url=https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/dismissal-of-journalistic-director-of-perus-main-television-station-worsens-credibility-crisis-in-the-press-during-polarized-elections/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2021-06-28|title=Peru's Fujimori loses allies as bid to flip election result falters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/perus-fujimori-loses-allies-bid-flip-election-result-falters-2021-06-28/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Reuters}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Dube|first=Ryan|date=2014-01-02|title=Battle Brews Over Media Influence in Peru|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303870704579296513417651766.html|access-date=2021-07-07|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name=RWBmom>{{Cite web|title=Grupo El Comercio|url=https://mexico.mom-rsf.org/es/propietarios/companias/detalles/company/company/show/grupo-el-comercio-hoy-vigenta-inversiones-sa/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Media Ownership Monitor|publisher=Reporters Without Borders|language=es}}</ref>

Canal N was launched as a news channel on 4 July 1999 as a subscription television 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, Radio América and Disney Radio Peru were then managed by Plural TV Group.

In 2024, El Comercio Group signed a media cooperation agreement with China Media Group.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CMG Signs Deal with Two Peruvian Media |url=https://lingua-sinica.org/dispatch/cmg-signs-deal-with-two-peruvian-media/ |access-date=2025-07-23 |website=Lingua Sinica |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 October 2015|title=Freedom of the Press 2015 - Peru|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/563737ff6.html|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Freedom House|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Medios de comunicación en el Perú |url=https://congreso.pucp.edu.pe/alaic2014/medios-de-comunicacion-en-el-peru/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Pontifical Catholic University of Peru |language=}}</ref> 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.<ref name="RWBmom" /> El Comercio Group also began to enter into the education and entertainment market in Chile and Colombia at the same time.<ref name="RWBmom" />

=== 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 and Keiko Fujimori's former advisor, Rudy Giuliani.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Alexander Burns|title=Giuliani loses election – in Peru|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2011/06/giuliani-loses-election-in-peru-056325|access-date=21 February 2021|website=Politico|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-10-11|title=Tribunal Constitucional {{!}} Gonzalo Ortiz de Zevallos {{!}} Coinciden en que Ortiz de Zevallos no está calificado para entrar al Tribunal Constitucional {{!}} POLITICA|url=https://peru21.pe/politica/tribunal-constitucional-gonzalo-ortiz-de-zevallos-coinciden-en-que-ortiz-de-zevallos-no-esta-calificado-para-entrar-al-tribunal-constitucional-noticia/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Peru.21|language=es}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-10-23|title=Augusto Álvarez Rodrich: La DBA reloaded|url=https://larepublica.pe/politica/2019/10/23/augusto-alvarez-rodrich-la-dba-reloaded/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=La Republica|language=es-PE}}</ref> 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 and Popular Force politician José Chlimper.<ref name=":6" />

== Headquarters == {{Infobox building | name = Grupo El Comercio | image = Edificio diario El Comercio.jpg | image_caption = | architectural_style = | address = | years_built = | groundbreaking_date = 1921 | opened_date = 1924 | cost = | owner = El Comercio Group | height = | material = | size = | floor_count = | floor_area = | architect = Felipe González del Riego<br>Enrique Rivero Tremouille | architecture_firm = }} The group's headquarters is located in the historic centre of Lima, at the corners of Lampa and Santa Rosa streets.

The building is located at the site of a single-storey building that also served as the headquarters of the newspaper, which featured a 20-metre Pine tree in its patio. On September 10, 1919, a crowd headed by then newly inaugurated President Augusto B. Leguía met at what was then the Plaza Francisco Antonio de Zela to attend a "political rally" of Leguía. From the square, the crowd headed to the headquarters of both ''El Comercio'' and ''La Prensa'', with the latter being burned down and the former being defended from the inside by armed journalists until it was ultimately breached and also burned down. The house of then director Antonio Miró Quesada—who was overseas at the time—was also burned down, with his family escaping through the building's rooftop.<ref name=Somos2019>{{Cite news |title=Cómo se construyó El Comercio: las fotos y la historia de un ícono arquitectónico de Lima |url=https://elcomercio.pe/somos/historias/construyo-comercio-historia-icono-arquitectonico-lima-ecpm-noticia-631766-noticia/ |last=Arévalo Miró Quesada |first=Juan Aurelio |date=2019-05-06 |work=Somos}}</ref>

After the events, Miró Quesada commissioned his son Aurelio, engineer and manager of the newspaper, to seek financing to erect a new building in the same location. Obtaining the funds was difficult as local banks did not wish to antagonise the "Patria Nueva" of Leguía, but Miró Quesada nevertheless acquired them and the new building began construction in 1921. Architects Felipe González del Riego and Enrique Rivero Tremouille designed the new fortress-inspired building, and construction lasted three years. The interior's crystal lamppost and iron gates (which feature the newspaper's initials and the caduceus, both imported from Belgium) were designed by Aurelio's brother Miguel. The flooring (the work of bricklayer José Falco and his assistant Zúñiga) and marble staircase (the work of the aforementioned Zúñiga) were imported from Italy. The archive's bookstands were the work of Díaz Alva and a group of Japanese workers worked on the baseboards and window frames.<ref name=Somos2019/>

The building was never formally inaugurated as protocol required the invitation of Leguía. Instead, a great lunch was organised by José Antonio Miró Quesada and his children in honour of the international journalists visiting the city for the ten-day centennial celebrations of the Battle of Ayacucho.<ref name=Somos2019/> The building's main hall served as the location of the wake of Antonio Miró Quesada de la Guerra and his wife María Laos, both murdered by a member of the Aprista Party in 1935.<ref name=Somos2019/>

In December 2025, the company approved the sale of the building, as well as its printing press in Pueblo Libre, through a trust.<ref>{{Cite news |title=El Comercio pone en venta sus inmuebles localizados en el Centro de Lima y Pueblo Libre |date=2025-12-19 |url=https://www.peru-retail.com/el-comercio-pone-en-venta-sus-inmuebles-localizados-en-el-centro-de-lima-y-pueblo-libre/ |work=PerúRetail}}</ref>

== Influence and political orientation == El Comercio Group is the largest media conglomerate in Peru and one of the largest in South America.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Though they opposed the Alberto Fujimori government,<ref name=":11">{{cite web |date=August 2002 |title=Spymaster |url=https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/1368/transcript/ |access-date=29 March 2023 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |language=en |quote=Lester: Though few questioned it, Montesinos was a novel choice. Peru's army had banished him for selling secrets to America's CIA, but he'd prospered as a defence lawyer – for accused drug traffickers. ... Lester: Did Fujmori control Montesinos or did Montesinos control Fujimori? ... Shifter: As information comes out, it seems increasingly clear that Montesinos was the power in Peru.}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{cite journal |last1=Calderón Bentin |first1=Sebastián |date=January 2018 |title=The Politics of Illusion: The Collapse of the Fujimori Regime in Peru |journal=Theatre Survey |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=84–107 |doi= |access-date=}}</ref> the company has typically supported right-wing politicians, including President Alan García and Alberto's daughter, Keiko Fujimori.<ref name="RWBmom" /> From the 2011 Peruvian general election<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-02-26 |title=El Nuevo Anti-Fujimorismo {{!}} LaRepublica.pe |url=http://larepublica.pe/politica/910667-el-nuevo-anti-fujimorismo |access-date=2023-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226211635/http://larepublica.pe/politica/910667-el-nuevo-anti-fujimorismo |archive-date=2018-02-26 }}</ref> to the 2021 Peruvian general election,<ref name=":19">{{cite web |date=28 June 2021 |title=Peru's Fujimori loses allies as bid to flip election result falters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/perus-fujimori-loses-allies-bid-flip-election-result-falters-2021-06-28/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701225202/https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/perus-fujimori-loses-allies-bid-flip-election-result-falters-2021-06-28/ |archive-date=1 July 2021 |access-date=1 July 2021 |website=Reuters}}</ref> El Comercio supported Fujimori. According to Wayka, Elisabeth Dulanto Baquerizo de Miró Quesadao of the family who owns El Comercio group signed the Madrid Charter and has helped hold events for the anti-leftist organization Madrid Forum, a group that was organized by the far-right Spanish party Vox.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-04-14 |title=Los empresarios aliados del Foro Madrid, el encuentro de la extrema derecha fascista |url=https://wayka.pe/los-empresarios-aliados-del-foro-madrid-el-encuentro-de-la-extrema-derecha-fascista/ |access-date=2023-04-26 |website=Wayka |language=es |archive-date=2023-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530013722/https://wayka.pe/los-empresarios-aliados-del-foro-madrid-el-encuentro-de-la-extrema-derecha-fascista/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /> President Ollanta Humala denounced the acquisition saying that the move gave the conglomerate too much influence and called on legislators to oversee the controversy.<ref name=":2" /> Eight journalists in November 2013 filed a lawsuit in Peru's Constitutional Court to block the acquisition of Epensa<ref name=":3" /> 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".<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=|date=2021-06-25|title=Juez ordena al Grupo El Comercio anular compra de Epensa por concentración de medios|url=https://ojo-publico.com/2839/juez-ordena-el-comercio-anular-compra-de-epensa-por-concentracion|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Ojo Público|language=es}}</ref> El Comercio Group decided to appeal the judge's decision.<ref name=":4" />

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.<ref name="RWBmom" />

== Company units == thumb|Business network of El Comercio Group as of 2016 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''.<ref name=":2" /> 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''.<ref name="RWBmom" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=Nosotros|url=https://grupoelcomercio.com.pe/nosotros/|website=Grupo El Comercio}}</ref> El Comercio Group also controls the distribution of ''The New York Times'' and ''Publimetro'' in Peru.<ref name="RWBmom" /><ref name=":5" /> * '''Television Business Unit''' – Plural TV Group and its subsidiaries, América Televisión, Canal N, Radio América and Disney Radio Peru.<ref name="RWBmom" /><ref name=":5" /> * '''Digital Business Unit''' – ComercioXpress, Lumingo, Neoauto and PagoEfectivo<ref name="RWBmom" /><ref name=":5" /> * '''Services Business Unit''' – Amauta Impressiones Comerciales<ref name="RWBmom" /><ref name=":5" />

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Mass media in Lima Category:Mass media in Peru Peru Category:Television in Peru