Checking in on Perenchio

Business Week's L.A. bureau chief Ron Grover has a media piece in this issue on Jerrold Perenchio, the "heavyweight on Latin airwaves" who has also been a big money player in L.A. and national politics. Grover leads with this:

The most powerful mogul in Spanish TV distrusts the media, rarely gives interviews, and doesn't even speak Spanish. He's a jet-hopping, 73-year-old former boxing promoter who pals around with George Bush (41 and 43) and lives in the sprawling Bel Air (Calif.) mansion featured in the 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. He loves throwing lavish parties -- once he even flew in Henry Mancini and Andy Williams to perform at his son's 1981 wedding. Still, to most people in Hollywood, where as a talent agent he once championed the careers of Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando, Jerry Perenchio is an enigma.

Tell me you wouldn't read that. Then he follows:

Univision draws more young viewers in prime time than MTV and more men than ESPN, according to Nielsen. And in Hispanic-rich markets such as Los Angeles, Miami, and Phoenix, it often beats English-language rivals to snare the younger viewers advertisers crave...

Perhaps more than any other media company, Univision reflects the secretive, often combative personality of its boss. The onetime college boxer was well into his 60s when he wrestled a business partner on a snowy sidewalk outside a Manhattan restaurant over who got to pick up the check. At Univision, Perenchio rules with a 20-point manifesto that demands that employees think big, avoid mistakes, practice teamwork, and "hire people smarter and better than you." The No. 1 rule: "Stay clear of the press. Stay out of the spotlight. It fades your suit. Only promote the brands."

Perenchio is hardly a Howard Hughes-like recluse, though. He and his third wife, Margie, are spotted at movie premieres and courtside at Los Angeles Lakers games. And he is not shy about throwing his support to politicians; he has donated millions to high-profile Democrats and Republicans in recent years. "He's one of the most powerful guys in this city, but he doesn't like being in the limelight much," says former Warner Bros. Chairman Robert Daly, who plays in a regular poker game with Perenchio. "He just likes people to leave him alone."

No, Perenchio wouldn't be interviewed for the BW story. (Via I Want Media)

Previously on L.A. Observed: Perenchio on the move again, Univision fight all about voters?