Ricardo Salinas Pliego

Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego
Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego
Born	October 19, 1955 (age 71); Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, businessman
Known for	Founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Ricardo Salinas Pliego, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 11 August 2025

Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego (born October 19, 1955) is a prominent Mexican entrepreneur who founded and currently leads Grupo Salinas, a diversified conglomerate operating in sectors such as telecommunications, media, financial services, and retail.

A vocal advocate of minarchism and neoliberalism, he ranks as the third wealthiest individual in Mexico and holds the 172nd position globally, with an estimated net worth of US$5.4 billion as of June 2025.

Career

Ricardo Salinas Pliego earned a CPA degree from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) and completed an MBA at Tulane University. He began his career at Elektra in 1981 as the import manager, gaining valuable experience during the company’s financial challenges caused by the 1980s currency devaluation. From 1981 to 1986, he engaged in various entrepreneurial initiatives, including managing a restaurant in Monterrey and developing satellite dish and multi-communication system ventures.

In 1987, Salinas took over from his father, Hugo Salinas Price, as CEO of Grupo Elektra, which originally started as Salinas & Rocha furniture manufacturing in 1906. Under his direction, Elektra shifted its focus toward appliances, electronics, and furniture while introducing consumer credit services aimed at Mexico’s lower middle-income demographic. This approach propelled Grupo Elektra to become the country’s leading consumer finance enterprise.

By 2002, Grupo Elektra obtained Mexico’s first banking license in nearly ten years and launched Banco Azteca, extending operations into Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, and Honduras. The group also secured licenses for Seguros Azteca and Afore Azteca, thereby expanding its range of financial offerings.

Salinas serves as chairman of TV Azteca, one of the largest producers of Spanish-language television content worldwide. He was instrumental in its privatization, effectively ending the monopoly over Mexican television. In 2001, TV Azteca introduced Azteca America, designed to serve the U.S. Hispanic audience through affiliates in 70 cities covering 89% of this demographic; the network was later sold to HC2 Holdings in 2017.

In 2003, Salinas acquired Iusacell, Mexico’s pioneering mobile phone company, which he merged with Unefon—a mobile operator he founded in 1999. Grupo Salinas divested Iusacell to AT&T in 2015. Currently, Totalplay provides fiber-optic internet, television, and telephone services to residential and commercial customers throughout Mexico.

The year 2012 marked Grupo Elektra’s acquisition of Advance America (now Purpose Financial), a U.S.-based provider of short-term loans, alongside the launch of Punto Casa de Bolsa. The conglomerate maintains over six thousand service points across Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Panama.

Salinas has delivered keynote speeches at prestigious events such as The World Economic Forum, The Economist Roundtable on Mexico, UCLA, Harvard Business School, and TED conferences focusing on globalization and entrepreneurship. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Hill, as well as various Mexican outlets. Notably, he became the first Mexican appointed to the board of trustees at the Aspen Institute.

In 2020, Salinas revealed that he allocated 10% of his liquid assets into investments in Bitcoin.

Philanthropy

In 1997, Salinas founded the nonprofit organization Fundación Azteca with the mission of addressing social challenges through initiatives in healthcare, nutrition, education, and environmental conservation. The foundation provides financial backing and support to various groups, generating millions of dollars that have positively impacted hundreds of thousands of individuals.

April 2021 saw the opening of the Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego Center, aimed at fostering ideas to drive Mexico's progress. The center concentrates on themes such as Freedom, Rule of Law, Education, Leadership, Art and Culture, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Among its primary initiatives are Arte & Cultura, which seeks to improve societal well-being via artistic endeavors; Caminos de la Libertad, dedicated to promoting freedom awareness; and Kybernus, focused on nurturing young leaders at the community level.

Controversies

Salinas has been involved in several political and financial controversies, including inquiries by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Mexico’s Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores. He has been associated with former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. In 2005, the SEC accused him of orchestrating a scheme to conceal $109 million in profits through undisclosed transactions related to TV Azteca stock sales. The matter was resolved in 2006 when Salinas agreed to pay $7.5 million without acknowledging any wrongdoing.

In 2002, Esteban Moctezuma—who served as Secretary of Interior under PRI President Ernesto Zedillo—was appointed by Salinas as CEO of Fundación Azteca. Additionally, his daughter Ninfa became a member of the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), allied with PRI, in 2009.

Football match and presidential debate

Salinas opted to broadcast the 2011–12 quarter-final game between Tigres de la UANL and Monarcas Morelia from the Mexican Primera División concurrently with the presidential debate for Mexico’s 2012 general elections on 6 May 2012.

On 30 April 2012, he posted on Twitter:

Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Televisa’s CEO, clarified via Twitter that it was TV Azteca—not Televisa—that intended to air the football match.

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), led by Leonardo Valdés Zurita, requested TV Azteca refrain from scheduling the match during the debate. While acknowledging the programming rights of media outlets, Zurita stressed respecting permissions related to the debate. Electoral authorities highlighted that this situation compelled viewers to choose between watching football or the presidential debate featuring candidates Josefina Vázquez Mota (PAN), Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD), and Gabriel Quadri de la Torre (PANAL). On Twitter, most public feedback criticized Salinas Pliego for prioritizing sports coverage over political discourse.

Anonymous group and Grupo Salinas

In response to Salinas’s decision, on 1 May 2012 the hacker collective Anonymous launched an attack on Grupo Salinas’ official website. Through Twitter, they expressed their preference for broadcasting the presidential debate instead of the football game. As a result, www.gruposalinas.com was inaccessible for a period.

TV Azteca agrees to air debate

By 3 May 2012, the IFE announced that TV Azteca would broadcast the presidential debate on XHTVM-TV, also known as Proyecto 40. Defending his position on 4 May 2012, Salinas argued that "the majority of people are not interested in the presidential debate," citing poll figures showing only 15% interest compared to 54% disinterest. He added that if public opinion changed, he would modify his approach accordingly, emphasizing that his business decisions are guided by audience preferences.

COVID-19 pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Salinas Pliego—who had previously been an economic supporter of President López Obrador—advocated for disregarding the government's social distancing and quarantine directives, emphasizing economic continuity and individual liberties. He directed tens of thousands of workers within his enterprises to maintain regular operations, kept his private educational institutions operational, and utilized his television network, TV Azteca, as a platform to challenge official health regulations.

Companies

Grupo Salinas
Retail and Financial Services:
- Grupo Elektra
  - Purpose Financial
  - Punto Casa de Bolsa
- Banco Azteca
  - Seguros Azteca
  - Afore Azteca
- Tiendas Neto
Media:
- TV Azteca
  - Azteca Guatemala
  - Azteca Honduras
Telecommunications:
- Totalplay
- Totalplay Empresarial
Motorcycles: Italika
Additional Ventures:
- Upax
- Agencia i
- Promo Espacio
- Grupo Dragón
- Totalsec
Social Initiatives:
- Fundación Azteca
- Centro Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego
- Kybernus
- Arte y Cultura Grupo Salinas
Soccer:
- Mazatlán F.C.

External links