During the macrismo it made its greatest expansion. In 2018, Marcelo Figoli added Radio Colonia, FM Blue in partnership with Grupo América and also the NA news agency. In 2019, he appeared in the court that was carrying out the bankruptcy of Radio Rivadavia and presented a business plan to keep it going. The programming of Radio Rivadavia became an emblem of anti-K journalism, where feeding the crack is part of the business. He, more elegantly, calls it “building an audience.”
In parallel, also won a tender to operate the Ecopark from the City of Buenos Aires, in the heart of the Palermo neighborhood, where the zoo used to function. And during the presidency of Alberto Fernández, he was left with another business that was in decline, Parque de la Costa, located in the town of Tigre, land of massismo. In March 2021, in an act with the Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof and the then President of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, the purchase of Parque de la Costaanother business in crisis and that the pandemic finished detonating.
News: Parque de la Costa bought it for little money.
Marcelo Fígoli: Incredible, but that is an opportunity that I could not pass up
News: No politician asked you for the conflict that could be closing and firing employees?
Figoli: On the contrary, I went to ask the politicians. I spoke with Sergio Massa. I told him: “Are you interested in rescuing Parque de la Costa?” I raised 10 points with Sergio and we were able to advance on 6 or 7, which satisfied me to be able to make the investment.
News: He tried to buy America. Where did the money come from?
Figoli: I was going to try to lead a group of investors to accompany me, who already had it agreed.
News: Is the investment group Argentine or foreign?
Figoli: Everything, investors who of course were going to be public on the day they bought the channel and will be public when they buy a channel or do something that has to do with an important investment. America, we started that negotiation and well, first it was going to be the sale of the entire part, you saw that there are two parts, there is that of Claudio Belocopitt and that of Vila-Manzano-Hochbaum. I went crazy looking for investors to accompany me, the truth is that Daniel (Vila) had been very generous in the negotiation, he had proposed an interesting negotiation, which made the operation comfortable for me. But for some reason Daniel gave up selling.
News: Don’t know why?
Figoli: No. He told me: “I don’t think it’s the right time.” And well, it is in all the right of him.
News: Did you try to negotiate with Víctor Santa María on Channel 9?
Figoli: No, I never sat down with Santa Maria. Someone published that but I never wanted to buy it, because I think Channel 9 has a problem to solve in court, but I never spoke to Víctor or anyone else. But I’m looking to get a foothold in the national audiovisual, I’m going to keep insisting, I’m going to enter somewhere.
News: His latest purchases are good for politics.
Figoli: Politics intervenes in everything.
News: Is it part of a strategy to also think that this is an asset, a value for your business? What media are interested in politics?
Figoli: I don’t need to buy anything to sit down and talk to a politician, I know them, I sold artists to all the politicians from Menem to all the governors everywhere, I provided services to the whole world. I don’t need to have anything to sit with politics.
News: Do you have friends in politics?
Figoli: Look, it’s something I’ve questioned all my life. I have very good relations and I know many businessmen who became friends with politicians. I haven’t made friends, I don’t go on vacation with politicians, I don’t go to eat at home, they don’t come to my house. I can have a dinner, a meeting, more so now that I have a lot of means, but I haven’t made any political friends.
News: What kind of relationship do you have with Sergio Massa?
Figoli: I get along well.
News: With Horacio Rodríguez Larreta?
Figoli: I get along well.
News: With Kicillof?
Figoli: I get along quite well, I don’t have that much of a relationship because I don’t see him much. He is a politician that I respect a lot. The first thing I respect about Axel is his proven honesty, everywhere, in all the circles in which you speak, and that deserves a lot of respect from me.
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