Cisneros Group: chronology
Chronology
This chronology is indicative only. Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline.
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1929 Diego Cisneros founds transport business in Caracas, Venezuela.
1939 gains franchises for truck and whitegoods dealerships
1940 gains Pepsi Cola bottling franchise
1944 founds industrial gases company
1947 gains Studebaker franchise
1952 founds icecream company
1961 Venevision tv network founded in Venezuela
1970 Cisneros founds packaging subsidiary
1973 buys Yukery Venezolana De Alimentos beverage group
1974 forms O’Cana Distributors" liquor distributorship
1974 buys radio stations in Venezuela to form Radiovision network
1975 buys majority of CADA Automercado supermarket chain in Venezuela
1976 buys pharmaceutical, cosmetics and baby products companies
1976 gains NCR dealership
1980 forms record and audiotape manufacturing subsidiary
1980 gains Burger King franchise
1983 gains Pizza Hut franchise
1983 vecomes dealer for DEC
1983 buys Sears Roebuck's Venezuelan department stores
1984 buys Spalding
1984 buys Evenflo
1984 buys Galerias Preciados, department store chain in Spain
1985 buys Cinemakit video and film production company
1986 buys mineral water, juice and baby food operations
1987 buys 50% of US Top-Hits record company
1988 begins large scale property development in heart of London
1992 buys stake in Univision, largest Spanish-language TV network in US
1992 buys Chilevision national tv network in Chile
1993 buys Pueblo Xtra International 52-store supermarket chain in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and South Florida
1995 Cisneros and Hughes Electronics form DIRECTV Latin America
1996 sells Yukery Venezolana De Alimentos
1996 switches from bottling Pepsi to bottling Coca-Cola
1996 sells Evenflo for US$1bn
1997 sells stake in CADA Automercado
1997 launches Playboy TV Iberia in Spain and Portugal
1997 Cisneros forms Ibero-American Media Partners (IAMP) with Hicks Muse Tate & Furst
1997 IAMP forms Claxson Interactive
1998 forms AOL Latin America with AOL
1998 buys MuchMusicTM Argentina music tv channel
1998 with IAMP buys Chilean radio stations
1999 buys HTV, Latin mtv channel in Latin America, Europe, US and Japan
2000 Univision buys USA Networks (13 fully owned US tv stations and minority interests in 4 stations) for US$1.1bn
2000 Univision buys Televisa's Fonovisa recording subsidiary
2000 AOL Latin America floated
2001 buys two tv stations in Puerto Rico
2001 launches TeleFutura Network in US
2001 merger of El Sitio and IAMP
2001 buys Venezuela's Los Leones baseball team
2002 Univision buys US Hispanic Broadcasting network for US$3.5bn
2006 Telecom Italia sells Venezuelan mobile operator Digitel to Cisneros' Telvenco for US$425m