The family that founded Ecuador’s leading print newspaper El Universo in 1921 has sold its stake to an investment group led by Florida-based entrepreneur Yves Maia Pardini and backed by Argentine media magnate José Luis Manzano through his firm Integra Capital.
Established in 1921 by Ismael Pérez as El Universo del puerto de Guayaquil, the paper long competed with Quito’s El Comercio for dominance in Ecuador’s print market. It became the undisputed market leader after its historic rival ended its physical edition in 2023.
“We’ve sold our shareholding to a group of investors led by Yves Maia Pardini, an entrepreneur based in Florida, and the Integra Capital group of Argentine businessman José Luis Manzano,” heirs Carlos, César and Nicolás Pérez said in a statement posted on X.
Manzano, a former minister in the government of president Carlos Menem (1989-1999), has built a significant media portfolio in Argentina in recent years. His holdings include América TV, El Cronista, Telefe and La Red.
The Pérez brothers said the new phase would focus on strengthening the newspaper’s journalistic leadership, accelerating its digital transformation and deepening multimedia integration, while keeping its “editorial commitment intact.”
They also confirmed that Ignacio Giménez Zapiola, a former manager at Peru’s El Comercio, will take over day-to-day operations.
The family’s tenure was marked in its later years by a high-profile legal battle with former president Rafael Correa.
In 2012, Ecuador’s National Court of Justice ordered the case closed, annulling a ruling that had sentenced the three Pérez brothers and former opinion editor Emilio Palacio to three years in prison and to pay US$40 million in damages.
Correa had filed the suit over a column in which Palacio accused him of ordering security forces to open fire on a hospital during a 2010 police uprising in which the president was briefly held. Palacio later sought refuge in the United States.
– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL
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