Gustavo Cisneros left a lasting impact on Spanish-language media by co-founding Univision

Jan. 3, 2024 2:57 PM PT

Venezuelan billionaire businessman Gustavo Cisneros, who grew the family business Cisneros Group into an influential media conglomerate across Latin America and the U.S., has died at age 78.

The company confirmed his death across social media Friday, calling him a “visionary leader whose influence extended far beyond the confines of the business realm.”

“His exemplary leadership and dedication serve as a beacon of inspiration,” the company said.

The company did not give further details of his death, but the Miami Herald reported that he died after a brief struggle with pneumonia.

He remained chairman of the company’s board of directors until his death.

“What always amazed me until the very end was how ahead of his time he always was,” his daughter Adriana Cisneros, Cisneros Group’s chief executive since 2013, told the Herald.

“There would be so many ideas that he would mention to us, and we would say, ‘What are you talking about?’ And then we would see, years later, he was absolutely right because he sort of had this ability to see the future in a way that most people can’t,” she said.

Adriana Cisneros restructured the group into four branches — media, interactive, real estate and social leadership — when she assumed the CEO role.

Cisneros Group was founded in 1929 by Gustavo Cisneros’ father, Diego, who by the 1940s obtained the right to market and sell Pepsi-Cola products in Venezuela. About 20 years later, Diego Cisneros launched Venevision, which became the most popular private television channel in Venezuela.

Gustavo Cisneros became chairman and chief executive of the family firm in the 1970s.

In 1992, he co-founded Univision, the first Spanish-language media company in the U.S. By 1995, he launched DirecTV Latin America, the first all-digital direct-to-home satellite television service in Latin America. In 2007, Cisneros and his partners sold Univision to a private equity consortium for $12.3 billion, according to news reports.

As of 2019, Forbes listed Cisneros and his family as being worth $1.1 billion.

Cisneros lived in La Romana in the Dominican Republic and had homes in Madrid and New York, “but his ties to South Florida traverse business and family,” the Miami Herald reported. The family business moved its operational headquarters from Venezuela to Coral Gables, Fla., in 2000. His grandchildren live in the Miami area, according to the Herald.

Cisneros, who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Miami, has spoken fondly of the city.

“Miami has arrived. It’s the nexus of the Americas. It’s really the bridge between the United States and the rest of the world. People here are bilingual or trilingual,” he told the Herald in a 2017 interview.

Many across Venezuela have expressed their sympathies.

The Unitary Platform — an alliance made up of Venezuela’s opposition parties — released a statement Saturday saying it “joins the mourning that afflicts the Cisneros family.”

Cardinal Baltazar Porras of the Archdiocese of Caracas in a statement expressed his sympathies and regarded Cisneros as a “businessman of our country, media man and technological promoter of one of the important open-signal channels in Venezuela: Venevisión.”

“To his family and friends our prayers,” he said.

Cisneros is survived by his wife, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; and their children, Adriana, Carolina and Guillermo; and 10 grandchildren, according to the Miami Herald.

“Gustavo’s fervor for leadership and excellence also shone through in his personal life as a devoted father and husband. He was steadfast in guiding his family, instilling core values of respect and integrity,” the company said in its statement.

“Together with his wife, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, he forged a bond of deep understanding, mutual respect, and unwavering support.”