Ricardo Salinas Blog Now on The Huffington Post

August 2012 • Issue 54 •
La Isla Reality Show
Debuts
p. 7
World-Class Lecturers
at the
Elektra Convention
p. 10
Gold Medal for Azteca 7,
the Olympic Games Channel
p. 3
Ricardo Salinas Blog Now
on The Huffington Post
Azteca
Celebrates Its
19th Anniversary
Ricardo B. Salinas has written a regular blog at www.ricardosalinas.com
since 2008, where he shares thoughts and analysis on topics such as
business, leadership, social commitment, values,development, education, government and communication.
Since July, he has also
been part of the blogging
community at The Huffington Post, making him
the first Latin American
business leader with regular contributions to
the site.
p. 4
Grupo Salinas
Second Quarter
2012 Company
Reports
p. 6
The blog postings are an
important step toward
presenting Ricardo Salinas as a leading voice for
the business community
throughout Latin America. Congratulations to our
founder and chairman!
Azteca 7’s New Morning
Programming Block
p. 9
Visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ricardo-b-salinas/
Editorial
August, 2012
Reaping Success
In this issue of Grupo Salinas Hoy, we highlight the success of Mexican athletes
at the Olympic Games in London. The seven medals that Mexico brought home
—including a gold for soccer— were the best results ever achieved abroad.
Our Azteca Deportes team also did a stellar job as they followed every moment
of this historic event to share with viewers.
This month we also present ALAS, an innovative leadership program
for executives at Grupo Salinas. We’re convinced that ongoing training
is an important factor to ensure continued solid financial results like those we
reported in the second quarter.
We are also very proud to announce that our chairman, Ricardo Salinas, has
become the first businessman in Latin America to become a regular contributor
to the prestigious blog site The Huffington Post. I think this will provide a very
important international platform for the ideas he has shared since 2008 on his
own site (www.ricardosalinas.com).
Contents
We have an autumn full of exciting events that we will be sharing with you in our
coming issues.
Gold Medal for Azteca 7,
the Olympic Games Channel........... 3
Azteca Celebrates Its
19th Anniversary................................ 4
ALAS: Advanced Learning,
Leadership, and Systematic
Action ................................................ 5
Grupo Salinas Second Quarter 2012
Company Reports.............................. 6
La Isla Reality Show Debuts.............. 7
Azteca America Honors U.S.
Congressional Staffers...................... 8
Azteca America Broadcasts in HD.... 8
Azteca 7’s New Morning
Programming Block........................... 9
World-Class Lecturers at the
Elektra Convention..........................10
Names and Faces
Lucila Galán......................................11
The Best of Ricardo
Salinas’ Blog ....................................12
Contacts...........................................12
Thank you for your interest.
Luis J. Echarte
2
Our
companies
www.gruposalinas.com
Gold Medal for Azteca 7,
the Olympic Games Channel
Part of the talented team that supported the coverage from Mexico
Innovation and creativity were the hallmarks of Azteca 7’s coverage of the 2012
Olympic Games in London, with daily broadcasts and live feeds that featured
exciting interviews, recaps, analysis, and entertainment. Programs included “Amanecer
olímpico” , “Vive Londres 2012” , “Ahora o
nunca” , “Camino a la gloria”, and “Pasión
olímpica” , in addition to broadcasting the
awards ceremonies.
Congratulations to
the entire team for
their effort!
Forty anchormen and women, analysts, reporters, and actors, plus an operational
team of more than 100 made up the Azteca Deportes team that brought together
experience, talent, and capability to offer Mexico’s audience the most complete
information and the deepest analysis of the sports event of the year. Congratulations to the entire team for their effort!
We also want to congratulate the Mexican delegation for their dedication, and
particularly the Olympic medalists: Mexico’s National Soccer Team (gold); Paola
Espinosa and Alejandra Orozco (silver, women’s synchronized 10m platform diving); Germán Sánchez and Iván García (silver, men’s synchronized 10m platform
diving); Aída Román (silver, women’s individual archery); María del Rosario Espinoza
(bronze, taekwondo); Laura Sánchez (bronze, women’s 3m springboard diving);
and Mariana Avitia (bronze, women’s individual archery).
Enrique Garay
3
Our
companies
August, 2012
Azteca Celebrates Its 19th Anniversary
In 1993, Azteca
started an
adventure that
continues to grow
thanks to all of us
It seems like yesterday when Ricardo Salinas Pliego was
presented as CEO of Televisión Azteca. There were doubts
and lots of expectations. Nineteen years later, he led the
inauguration of Azteca’s new studios, the most modern
in Latin America, with the conviction that Azteca will
continue its success with audiences through innovation.
In 1993, Azteca started an adventure that continues to
grow thanks to all of us. We put an end to a monopoly, and have been part of important transformations in
our country; we enriched the political debate, and gave
a voice to all figures in political, social, and economic
spheres, as well as entertainment.
Mario San Román, CEO of Azteca, and Pedro
Sola, host of “Ventaneando”, at the 19th
anniversary ceremony
For all those years, we have been reaping successes that
have left a mark on Mexican television history, but we have also made mistakes that
have led us to reflect and take on new challenges. Today the dream has become a
concrete reality and a point of reference for television broadcasting in Latin America
and the world. We are better than ever; we have a great future ahead of us; we have
a solid team; and we reach into every home, bringing with us our values, enthusiasm,
and love for Mexico.
4
www.gruposalinas.com
ALAS: Advanced Learning,
Leadership, and Systematic Action
ALAS is a training program for developing leadership among Grupo Salinas
executives using the “learning in action” platform.
ALAS is based on programs developed at General Electric (GE) by Noel
Tichy, who headed up the
company’s leadership initiatives during the era of
Jack Welch. Today, Tichy is
advisor to the Grupo Salinas Leadership Center.
The program is headed by Lucila Galán,
under the direct supervision of Grupo
Salinas Chairman Ricardo Salinas.
a guided learning environment and
enough time to learn new skills, tools,
and knowledge.
Winning
organizations
promote
active
teaching.
Participants are challenged
to develop by facing the
company’s practical problems instead of artificially contrived cases, at the
same time that they contribute value to the organization in real time.
ALAS is based on the premise that all
winning organizations promote active
teaching of their personnel, and the
way to experience that knowledge is
through doing what has been learned
in real projects. The organization’s
practices, processes, and values promote teaching that creates shared
knowledge.
ALAS entails a personal process of
change among its participants with
four goals: 1) developing leadership;
2) gaining teaching skills; 3) learning
teamwork skills and building internal interpersonal networks; and 4) resolving
strategic business challenges.
Learning in action encourages each
team and its members to resolve strategic problems with time and resource
restrictions. Meanwhile, paradoxically, it provides those participants with
Ricardo Salinas, Noel Tichy, and Lucila Galán with ALAS participants
5
Our
companies
August, 2012
Grupo Salinas Second Quarter 2012
Company Reports
Grupo Elektra registered historic highs
in total earnings and EBITDA* for a second quarter running, as the result of
a noteworthy increase in financial earnings, as well as the consolidation of
Advance America in company reports.
Figures in millions of pesos
Income
Points of Sale
+43%
17,046
11,897
2T11
5,871
2,321
June 2011
2T12
June 2012
EBITDA*
Gross Credit Portfolio
+42%
+66%
60,524
2,813
1,980
36,394
2T11
Azteca announces record levels of net
sales for a second quarter running
2T12
2T11
2T12
Figures in millions of pesos
Net Sales
EBITDA*
+6%
2,817
*/EBITDA: earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation, and amortization
2T11
2,994
964
966
2T12
2T11
2T12
6
www.gruposalinas.com
La Isla Reality Show Debuts
Azteca 7 has premiered “La isla,” an adventure reality show
in which 18 participants divided into three teams face each
other in difficult tests to try to survive and stay in the running.
“La isla” is a spectacular production by Ricardo Coeto set
on an exuberant Caribbean island where the competitors
test their physical and psychological abilities vying for the
two-million-peso prize.
Hosted by Alejandro Lukini, we will see the fearless contestants live together for several weeks at a time, when they will
have to overcome their fears and weaknesses to win.
Some of the competitors were chosen from among thousands
of hopefuls, and the program also boasts the participation of
several celebrities like actress Ivonne Montero, boxer Jorge
“El Travieso” Arce, model Julia Orayen, Celia Lora, Adolfo
“Bofo” Bautista, and Rafael Acosta (“Juanito”), among others.
The show also crosses borders as primetime programming
for Azteca America.
Julia Orayen, Ivonne Montero, Jorge “El Travieso” Arce, Celia Lora, “Bofo” Bautista,
and Belén Guerrero are just some of the celebrity participants
Alejandro Lukini hosts this spectacular production
7
Our
companies
August, 2012
Azteca America Honors U.S.
Congressional Staffers
Left to right: Armando Guzman, Azteca correspondent in Washington, D.C.; Congressman
Mario Diaz Balart; Congressman Luis Gutiérrez;
Congressman David Rivera; Susan Santana,
member of the CHLI Board of Directors; Stephen Vermillion; Jennice Fuentes, Congressman Luis Gutiérrez’s chief of staff; Mary Ann
Gomez, CHLI executive director; and former
Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Azteca
America
Broadcasts
in HD
Congressman David Rivera; Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart; Stephen Vermillion, Congressman David Rivera’s
chief of staff; and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Starting in June, Azteca America is uploading its signal in
high definition (HD) via satellite,
making it available to more than
70 stations in the United States.
Azteca America, Fundación Azteca America, and the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) joined forces in July to honor two distinguished congressional staffers. Stephen Vermillion, chief of staff of Congressman David Rivera’s
office (District 25, Florida), and Jennice Fuentes, chief of staff of Congressman Luis
Gutiérrez’s office (District 4, Illinois), were the honorees.
The largest stations in Los
Angeles, Dallas, and Houston are
already offering HD broadcasts to
their viewers.
At the reception, also attended by members of Congress and their teams, both
staffers’ dedication to public service to the benefit of the U.S. Latino community
was honored.
The remaining local stations will be
starting HD broadcasting over the
coming months.
At the event, Congressmen Luis Gutiérrez and David Rivera, as well as CHLI President and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Ballart, spoke to the qualities of the
people who make their work possible.
8
www.gruposalinas.com
Azteca 7’s New Morning
Programming Block
Azteca 7, with its commitment to offer fresh, different options, is very proud to present “Mornings
on 7,” its new a.m. programming with interesting,
and above all, entertaining, content, plus great
hosts and talent.
A quién corresponde (AQC), from 9 to 10 a.m.
The morning starts off with one of Mexico’s most emblematic programs that supports,
listens to, and defends people, and deals with current issues in the society and city
we live in.
Hosted by Jorge Garralda, one of the most established hosts on Mexican television,
AQC will continue to offer its segments, like “Denuncia”, “Secciones en casetas,”
“Donaciones”, “Hecho en México” , “Rincón de México”, “Urbanito”, among others.
Jorge Garralda
Hola México, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
A morning magazine show, including news with a different slant: without being a
newscast, it presents an enjoyable way of talking about the most interesting news
items and offering the information you need to start the day right.
This program is hosted by Omar Fierro, Ana María Lomelí, Ana la Salvia, Mónica Castañeda, and Roberto Ruiz.
Los siete del siete, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
A program aimed at giving the audience useful information, offering advice, learning,
and entertainment all at the same time.
With its dynamic format, it looks at one issue a day and all the activities surrounding
in it: how to do things, how to look better, how to be okay, how to make your day the
best, are just a few.
Omar Fierro, Roberto Ruiz, Mónica Castañeda, Ana
la Salvia and Ana María Lomelí
This program is hosted by Mimí, María José Rosado, Paulina Mercado, Shanik Aspe,
and Joe.
Deporte caliente, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
A dynamic, fresh, entertaining sportscast with the day’s objective information. This
program focuses on people who want to know not only about soccer, but also to
be well-informed about everything that’s going on in the world of sports in a more
accessible way.
Luis García, Aline Arnot, and Antonio Rosique host this show.
Antonio Rosique, Aline Arnot and Luis García
9
Grupo
Salinas
August, 2012
World-Class Lecturers at the
Elektra Convention
At the recent 2012 Grupo Elektra Convention, participants
had the chance to listen to three world-class lecturers.
U.S. psychologist Daniel Gilbert
talked about happiness. His work
has focused on finding out why people are happy, based on thousands
he has surveyed worldwide.
Among his conclusions is that a
good marriage makes people happier, as well as doing something satisfying. He underlined that money
does make people happy, but only
up to a point, when earning more
brings no greater well-being, but
what does is the ability to do something for others.
“The challenge is
finding the optimum
number of options
that allows a customer to choose without
being paralyzed.”
Barry Schwartz
Daniel Gilbert
Another guest speaker was Sir Ken Robinson, a doctor in philosophy, who underscored the importance that every person
discover his/her “element,” which he defines as the point
at which enjoying doing something intersects with talent,
making it possible to develop the natural abilities to excel
in some activity. The British lecturer underlined the need to
discover the “element” to be able to deal with the challenges
facing humankind.
Finally, Barry Schwartz, psychologist and academic, put
forward a paradox that affects a business’s sales: the more
options a customer has for choosing a product, the more
difficult the choice will be. Professor Schwartz explained that
offering the customer alternatives is a good thing, but the
mistake is to think that that ensures a sale, because, when
the consumer is faced with many choices, he or she can be
paralyzed and not buy anything.
Barry Schwartz
The challenge, then, is to find the optimum number of options
that allows a customer to choose without being paralyzed.
Sir Ken Robinson
10
www.gruposalinas.com
Names and Faces
Lucila Galán
Director of Grupo Salinas Centro de
Liderazgo (Leadership Center)
Part of the Grupo Salinas team since 1991, Lucila Galán started in Elektra
and a short time later went through the process of the media package purchase (Channels 13 and 7, COTSA, Estudios América). She has constantly
pushed forward the group’s transformation and the development of our
people since then.
Her academic training includes a bachelor’s in business administration
and a master’s in communications from the Iberoamerican University, plus
numerous courses in organizational development (Adizes Institute, Pacific
Institute, ITESM, Action Learning, among others).
Today, she heads the Centro de Liderazgo (Leadership Center), where she
puts her knowledge of organizational structures and the use of different
methodologies to work. The concept is to use our companies’ real operational challenges as teaching moments and to detect talent to be trained
as successors under the direct guidance of Ricardo Salinas. The goal is to
develop talent in three main areas: as Grupo Salinas leaders, as leaders of
people, and as leaders of business
through real operational solutions.
“I’m passionate about the group,”
says Lucila. “I learned how to work
here; I have developed; and I have
much more to give.”
When she’s not focused on her
work, she enjoys spending time
with her daughter, traveling, reading, and sports.
11
Grupo
Salinas
August, 2012
The Best of Ricardo
Salinas’s Blog
Contacts
Investor Relations,
Grupo Salinas
Bruno Rangel • (5255) 1720-9167
• [email protected]
Public Relations,
Grupo Salinas USA
Nathalie Rayes • (818) 683-4178
• [email protected]
Press Relations,
Grupo Salinas
Daniel McCosh • (5255) 1720-0059
• [email protected]
Institutional Relations and
New Businesses
Santiago Blancafort •(5255)1720-0057
• [email protected]
Should TV Be Free?
Some cable systems have decided not to pay for Azteca’s signal while paying
multi-million peso figures for channels that are of much less interest to the
viewer audience. Their argument for refusing to pay for our signal is that “broadcast television should be free,” but curiously enough, they are willing to pay
for the channels of our competition. This argument is fallacious. In all advanced
countries, and notably in the United States, pay television systems pay hundreds
of millions of dollars to networks to retransmit these signals to their subscribers.
After all, the subscribers together pay considerably more to the cable operators
for this privilege. In U.S. regulations, this right is known as “retransmission consent.” Television is not free. It costs quite a bit to produce, regardless of how
it reaches households. For us at Azteca, it is one thing to have concessions for
the transmission of broadcast television signals, for which we paid over a billion
present-value dollars, and something very different to be forced to give away our
signals to pay-television systems.
The Wealth of Nations
The answer to the question of why some countries are rich and others poor
has long been a subject of discussion and can be analyzed from different
standpoints. Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith made some
particularly incisive considerations concerning countries’ prosperity more
than 200 years ago. Smith describes how the division of labor and the expansion of trade increase production, wealth, and social well-being; this is
irrefutable. Higher productivity allows a person to generate goods beyond
his/her immediate needs, resulting in an exchange for other surplus products
that others have produced. This spurs commerce and allows us to enjoy the
satisfactions that we would not have with mere self-sufficiency. Curiously,
some politicians talk about the benefits of different degrees and forms of
self-sufficiency; however economic evidence suggests that autarky is not a
desirable state. Quite the reverse.
Information GS Hoy
Elena Arceo • (5255) 1720-0060
• [email protected]
Editorial Committee
Daniel McCosh • Bruno Rangel •
Elena Arceo • Arturo Longares • Linda
Garcidueñas • Alejandro Vázquez •
Carlos Casillas • Jesús Velázquez
12