Jaume Roures | |
---|---|
Born |
Barcelona, Spain | 8 September 1950
Occupation(s) | Businessman, film producer, political activist and media mogul |
Known for |
Jaume Roures Llop (born 8 September 1950) is a Spanish businessman, film producer and media mogul from Catalonia. Roures is best known as the founder of the newspaper Público and as the CEO of the media group Mediapro. Considered a left-wing nationalist, he was a member of Trotskyist and Anti-Francoist organizations in his youth.
Born in Barcelona in 1950, [1] Roures was a member of clandestine anti-francoist organizations such as Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.), the Workers' Front of Catalonia (FOC) and the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). [2]
Arrested during the Francoist dictatorship, he spent time imprisoned in the Barcelona's Cárcel Modelo from 1969 to 1971 as a political prisoner. [3]
Roures began a career as sports journalist in TV3—the Catalan public television channel created in 1983—serving for eight years at the helm of the Department of Sports' News and Productions. [1]
Roures founded the production company Mediapro, primarily employed at its beginnings by the Canal+'s sports productions and the newscast services of Canal Sur. [4]
In 2005, Gestora de Inversiones Audiovisuales La Sexta obtained the last of the DTT licenses granted during the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. [5] Mediapro had a stake in Grupo GAMP (the primary shareholder of the company, the other one being, at the time, Televisa). [5] The related TV channel, LaSexta, begin to broadcast in March 2006. [6]
By means of the publisher 'Mediapubli, Sociedad de Publicaciones y Ediciones S.L.' (created in February 2007), Roures and other partners such as Tatxo Benet and Gerard Romy launched the daily newspaper Público, [7] which published its first issue on 26 September 2007. [8] Vowing to draw disenchanted left-wing readers away from El País, [9] the print version of Público was successively edited by Ignacio Escolar, Félix Monteira and Jesús Maraña . [10] Despite having achieved a substantial readership growth from 2008 to 2012, [11] at the height of 2011 it had become apparent that the business model (with a heavy indebtedness) was not viable, [12] and the company filed a layoff affecting a 20% of the workforce in 2011. [12]
Having filed for receivership on 3 January 2012, Roures and his partners resolved to close the print edition of Público on 24 February 2012. [13] A group of 20 former Mediapubli employees continued publishing the online version without support from the publisher. [14] However, on 23 May 2012, the receiver granted the print and online Mediapubli properties to Display Connectors S.L, a company created in February 2012 and participated by Roures and other Mediapubli people. [15]
As of 2019, he held a 12% stake in Mediapro, primarily owned by Chinese company Orient Hontai Capital. [16]
In 2020, Roures promoted the launch of the think-tank 'Institut Sobiranies'. [17]
In October 2023, the board of Mediapro determined the exit of Roures as managing partner of the company, reportedly at request of majority shareholder Southwind Group and minority shareholder WPP. [18]
Roures is considered a left-wing nationalist. [19] He claims to preserve the ideological views from his youth. [2] Roures has stated that he is in favour of the right to self-determination of the peoples. [20] Despite claiming to have voted CUP in 2012, he has declared not to be pro-Catalan independence. [20] [2]
Jaume Roures | |
---|---|
Born |
Barcelona, Spain | 8 September 1950
Occupation(s) | Businessman, film producer, political activist and media mogul |
Known for |
Jaume Roures Llop (born 8 September 1950) is a Spanish businessman, film producer and media mogul from Catalonia. Roures is best known as the founder of the newspaper Público and as the CEO of the media group Mediapro. Considered a left-wing nationalist, he was a member of Trotskyist and Anti-Francoist organizations in his youth.
Born in Barcelona in 1950, [1] Roures was a member of clandestine anti-francoist organizations such as Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.), the Workers' Front of Catalonia (FOC) and the Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). [2]
Arrested during the Francoist dictatorship, he spent time imprisoned in the Barcelona's Cárcel Modelo from 1969 to 1971 as a political prisoner. [3]
Roures began a career as sports journalist in TV3—the Catalan public television channel created in 1983—serving for eight years at the helm of the Department of Sports' News and Productions. [1]
Roures founded the production company Mediapro, primarily employed at its beginnings by the Canal+'s sports productions and the newscast services of Canal Sur. [4]
In 2005, Gestora de Inversiones Audiovisuales La Sexta obtained the last of the DTT licenses granted during the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. [5] Mediapro had a stake in Grupo GAMP (the primary shareholder of the company, the other one being, at the time, Televisa). [5] The related TV channel, LaSexta, begin to broadcast in March 2006. [6]
By means of the publisher 'Mediapubli, Sociedad de Publicaciones y Ediciones S.L.' (created in February 2007), Roures and other partners such as Tatxo Benet and Gerard Romy launched the daily newspaper Público, [7] which published its first issue on 26 September 2007. [8] Vowing to draw disenchanted left-wing readers away from El País, [9] the print version of Público was successively edited by Ignacio Escolar, Félix Monteira and Jesús Maraña . [10] Despite having achieved a substantial readership growth from 2008 to 2012, [11] at the height of 2011 it had become apparent that the business model (with a heavy indebtedness) was not viable, [12] and the company filed a layoff affecting a 20% of the workforce in 2011. [12]
Having filed for receivership on 3 January 2012, Roures and his partners resolved to close the print edition of Público on 24 February 2012. [13] A group of 20 former Mediapubli employees continued publishing the online version without support from the publisher. [14] However, on 23 May 2012, the receiver granted the print and online Mediapubli properties to Display Connectors S.L, a company created in February 2012 and participated by Roures and other Mediapubli people. [15]
As of 2019, he held a 12% stake in Mediapro, primarily owned by Chinese company Orient Hontai Capital. [16]
In 2020, Roures promoted the launch of the think-tank 'Institut Sobiranies'. [17]
In October 2023, the board of Mediapro determined the exit of Roures as managing partner of the company, reportedly at request of majority shareholder Southwind Group and minority shareholder WPP. [18]
Roures is considered a left-wing nationalist. [19] He claims to preserve the ideological views from his youth. [2] Roures has stated that he is in favour of the right to self-determination of the peoples. [20] Despite claiming to have voted CUP in 2012, he has declared not to be pro-Catalan independence. [20] [2]