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overview
holdings
chronology
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overview
This profile considers RCS MediaGroup, formerly RCS Rizzoli.
It covers -
introduction
The RCS MediaGroup in Italy and
Spain - established in 2003 through a restructure of Agnelli
family interests - embraces newspapers, magazines, books
and broadcasting in competition with Berlusconi
and de Benedetti's L'Espresso
group.
the group
The group centres on La Stampa and Corriere
della Sera, two of the most influential papers in
Italy. It includes book and magazine publishing units
(notably Rizzoli in Italy and Flammarion in France) and
has been expanding in Southern Europe, with for example
a stake of around 50% in Spain's Unidad Editorial newspaper,
broadcast and magazine group (later increased to 96%)
and acquisition of Recoletos
Grupo de Comunicaciòn for €1.1bn in
2007.
The group has minor book publishing and retailing interests
in North America, an advertising arm and sports interests.
As RCS Rizzoli the group was broadly aligned with the
Agnelli family - best known for the FIAT industrial conglomerate
(cars, steel, insurance, tractors etc) - which indirectly
controlled around half the equity.
structure
An
indication of RCS Rizzoli holdings is here.
background
The Agnelli family's Giovanni Agnelli & C. holding
company is believed to have a controlling stake in Istituto
Finanziario Industriale (Ifi), which owns around 50% of
Istituto Finanziaria di Partecipazioni (Ifil), around
20% of the FIAT auto group and substantial investments
in insurance, sugar, chemicals, property, retail and other
businesses. Ifil has a stake of around 12% in FIAT.
Ifi and Ifil appeared to control around 46% of Holding
di Partecipazioni Industriali (HdP), which following a
painful disposal of haute couture interests - notably
the Valentino fashion house - primarily consisted of RCS
Rizzoli and the Fila sportswear and sports shoe business.
The Flammarion publishing house in Paris and Italian newspaper
Corriere della Sera dates from the 1870s. The Rizzoli
publishing house was founded in the first years of last
century, with the family gaining some fame as producers
of films during the golden age of Italian cinema (eg La
Dolce Vita).
Rizzoli acquired Corriere della Sera in 1974 and
a decade later was absorbed by the Generale Mobiliare
Interessenze Azionarie (Gemina) investment group, driven
by the desire of Northern Italian industrial magnates
such as the Agnellis to diversify out of metal bashing
and present a less conspicuous target for nasties such
as the Red Brigades.
Gemina's performance wasn't stunning and a decade later
its publishing interests were spun off as HdP under the
direction of erstwhile Agnelli protege Cesare Romiti.
HdP (Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali) was created
in 1997 from a partial spin-off of Gemina's industrial
activities. HdP acquired 100% of the RCS publishing group
and controlling interests in fashion group GFT NET and
sportswear company Fila. HdP divested most of its stakes
in GFT NET and Fila before rebadging itself as RCS MediaGroup
in 2003, going on to buy out the minority shareholders
in most of its media subsidiaries (eg joint ventures with
German publisher Burda).
studies
There is no major English-language study of La Stampa,
Rizzoli or the Corriera.
Perspectives are offered by Giovanni Bechelloni's 'The
Journalist as Political Client in Italy' in Newspapers
& Democracy (Cambridge: MIT Press 1980) edited
by Anthony Smith, Gianpietro's 'Media Moguls in Italy'
in Media Moguls (London: Routledge 1991) edited
by Jeremy Tunstall and Political Clientalism &
the Media: Southern Europe & Latin America in Comparative
Perspective (PDF)
by Daniel Hallin & Stylianos Papathanassopoulos. The
superb Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society,
State 1980-2000 (London: Allen Lane 2001) by Paul
Ginsborg is also of value.
Most of the very extensive literature on the Agnellis
and FIAT is in Italian. Insights into Italian high finance
are offered by Alan Friedman's Agnelli and the Network
of Italian Power (London: Harrap 1988).
Dan Briody's The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret
World of the Carlyle Group (New York: Wiley 2003)
offers a journalistic and at times conspiracist account
of RCS's US partner.
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