Spain's most influential newspaper owner, Jesús de Polanco, died on Saturday, aged 77. The publisher of El País and chairman of Grupo Prisa, the largest media group in the Spanish-speaking world, was a hard-nosed businessman who played a key role in Spain's transition to democracy following the death of General Franco.
El País was a publishing sensation after its launch in May 1976. Polanco, who had made his fortune by publishing school textbooks, withstood attacks from the Roman Catholic church, which regarded it as an anti-clerical newspaper. Now the paper sells more than 400,000 copies a day. It is the flagship title in Grupo Prisa, a conglomerate tightly controlled by the Polanco family. Polanco's eldest son, Ignacio, yesterday took over as chairman. (Via FT.com)