Grupo Salinas

Grupo Salinas is a Mexican group formed by several companies focused on many different sectors. Grupo Salinas started as a retail store, but since Ricardo Salinas Pliego, its current President, took over the company Grupo Salinas began to diversify. Grupo Salinas now owns businesses that participate in the television industry, the telecommunications sector, the banking and financial market; amongst others. TV Azteca, Azteca América, Grupo Elektra, Banco Azteca, Afore Azteca, Seguros Azteca, Azteca Internet, GS Motors, Italika y la Asociación del Empresario Azteca. Each of the Grupo Salinas companies operates independently, with its own management and board of directors.

It started with the store Salinas y Rocha founded by Benjamín Salinas Westrup in 1906 in Monterrey.

A second company founded by Salinas was Elektra, a radio factory founded in the 1950. In 1952, under the leadership of Hugo Salinas Price, its CEO, Elektra began manufacturing television sets and increased its work force to 70 employees. Two years later, with the help of door-to-door salespeople, Elektra entered the direct-to-consumer market and began offering credit. In 1957, Elektra retail stores incorporated credit programs. By 1968, Elektra had 12 stores in the region and by 1987, 59 stores. Ricardo Salinas Pliego then became the CEO of Elektra. Under Ricardo Salinas Pliego during the next twenty years the company has grown rapidly to the point where the chain has 1800 stores mostly in Mexico but also in key cities in Central and South America. Offering credit to the poor has been an integral part of growth. Under the management of its new CEO, Elektra partnered with Western Union to offer money transfer services from the United States to Mexico in 1993 and becomes a publicly traded company listed on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV, the Mexican Stock Exchange).

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