RCS MediaGroup

History

Founded in 1927 by entrepreneur Angelo Rizzoli as A. Rizzoli & Co., it started in the press industry by buying out four national magazines, and later entering the publishing industry. Restructured and taken over a number of times, particularly in the 1980s when two of its executives became involved in the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano and the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due – or P2. Following the 1982 death of Roberto Calvi, the group applied for bankruptcy protection and greatly downsized.

Operations

RCS MediaGroup's sectors include newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, the internet and digital and satellite TV; it also has a division which handles advertising sales & distribution markets across all media divisions. In Italy, the group manages large daily newspapers such as Corriere della Sera, publish popular magazines including Il Mondo; and a diverse range of school, university, and business publications.

In Spain, through Unedisa it publishes leading daily newspaper El Mundo. It also has representation in Portugal, the United States and China. Already distributing the Italian version, in March 2008, RCS reached agreement with Global Media Publishing to launch a Russian version of its Sport Week magazine and develop a Russian language website sportweek.ru, which will be supplemented with mobile phone services.

The financial investment division holds interest in the capital of major Italian companies, including Banca Intesa, the internet company Dada, and Pirelli (which holds a complementary cross-holding).

The company employs 5,558 employees.

Quotidiani (Newspapers) Sector

Quotidiani Sector is the publisher of the group's daily newspapers in Italy and in Spain. The company holds a leadership position in the national daily press in Italy, where it has a 19% market share, and in Spain, with an 18% market share.

Periodici (Magazines) Sector

Periodici Sector publishes the group's magazines. In Italy the company has a market share of about 18%, with a portfolio of more than 30 publications.

Pubblicità (Advertising) Sector

Pubblicità Sector is the agency for the acquisition of advertising customers for the group's publications. It is the leading company in Italy for the acquisition of advertising for print media, for which it has a market share of 19%.

Other

Ownership

On 26 January 2005 shareholders which control 63.527% of ordinary share capital came to a shareholders' agreement freezing, the participants from selling or trading their holdings. On 14 March 2008 the pact agreed to extend their agreement for another three years until 2011. Italmobiliare, a company in the pact, acquired 2.332% stake of RCS from their subsidiary Italcementi in 2010, making the stake held by Italmobiliare increased to 7.465%. Italmobiliare did not excised all of their rights in the capital increase, making the company owned just 3.0042% of the share capital and 3.7469% ordinary shares of RCS.

In 2016 Urbano Cairo, via Cairo Communication, successfully completed a hostile takeover of RCS MediaGroup. However, Mediobanca, Unipol, Pirelli, Diego Della Valle and a private equity fund International Acquisitions Holding formed a new shareholders pact that opposed to Cairo; their offer to the public was lost to the offer from Cairo.

Earlier that year, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), a company of the 2008 pact, distributed the shares of RCS the company owns (16.7% of the share capital), to the shareholders of FCA, making the shareholders of FCA freely decided to sell the shares of RCS to either factions or kept the shares as their own investments; Exor, the major shareholder of FCA, sold the stake of RCS immediately.

As of 26 September 2016

Board of directors

Statutory Auditors

Timeline

The timeline of the company: