Polanco Moreno future Chairman of Grupo PRISA.

Pursuant to resolutions passed by the company’s board of directors, Ignacio Polanco Moreno will be Chairman of Prisa when his father steps down from that post in the future.

At the board meeting Jesús de Polanco proposed that his son Ignacio, presently Corporate Assistant to the Chairman, be appointed Deputy Chairman, with a view to his eventually taking over as Chairman of the Group. Jesús de Polanco, who was 77 years old this month, explained to the board that in his opinion this is the right time to take this step “to guarantee the future economic stability of the company, represented by my family, and the ongoing support for the professional management team headed by CEO Juan Luis Cebrián.” The Board of Directors passed the resolution by a unanimous vote.

Prisa’s controlling shareholder is Grupo Timón, founded by Jesús Polanco and Francisco Pérez González, and owned by their families. Timón, either directly or through its holdings in Promotora de Publicaciones (Propu), controls over 60% of Prisa capital. Propu is the Group’s leading shareholder, with 44.53% of its shares, while Timón holds 18.47%. Propu shareholders are essentially the founders of the EL PAÍS daily newspaper and members of their families.

Ignacio Polanco is presently Deputy Chairman of Timón and he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Prisa for the last 13 years. His sister Isabel is CEO of Santillana, the company originally founded by Jesús Polanco that is now a part of Prisa. His brother Manuel is CEO of Media Capital, the Portuguese communications group in which Prisa owns a 33% share and for which a takeover bid has recently been launched. Both are likewise board members at Prisa. A fourth sister, María Jesús, has her own private business. A family protocol regulates the corporate relationships among them.