Silvio Santosin addition to having been a legend of Brazilian televisionhe was also seen as a very instinctive businessman – and equally successful. His well-known stories involving the success of Chest of Happiness until the creation of the SBT show that the “boss” had a large risk appetite and with a centralizing profile, especially when talking about the TV channel, his favorite.
It was not uncommon to see in the press specializing in TV coverage the constant changes in SBT’s programming, direct calls to program directors and executives so that their wishes could be done at that exact moment – and which often resulted in audience growth, true. be said. But, with the death of Senor Abravanel in August this yeartheir companies began to adapt to new times.
READ MORE: Silvio Santos’ number 1 coin
The most recent is precisely in the best-known company, SBT. Daniela Beyruti, daughter number 3 of the presenter, was made official on Monday (11) as president of the station – a role she had already been carrying out in practice since Silvio stepped away from the day-to-day running of the station a few years ago.
Daniela designed a new structure, with nomenclature more similar to that of large corporations than to that of a company that until recently was family-run. SBT announced that it will have two C-level below it and three more superintendences – until then, the broadcaster’s organization chart there was only one vice-presidency and some boards, without adopting Anglicism in their positions.
Marcello Sassatani, who has been with the group since 2000, leads the financial part, and is now announced as CFO (or financial director). Fernando Justus Fischer, an executive with 26 years of experience, was announced as Chief Operating Officer (COO), or director of operations in plain Portuguese.
In a press release, SBT states that its new organizational structure has a “look at the future of the business”. “This new model aims for more agile and competitive processes, strengthening the company’s ecosystem and aligning its operations with the guidelines of the Silvio Santos Group.”
The succession of Silvio Santos’ business had already been passed on to his six daughters a few years ago. In this division, Daniela Beyruti took over SBT and the youngest, Renata Abravanel, started to command the Silvio Santos Group, holding which includes the TV station, Baú, the Jequitiabout the hotel Jequitimarand the construction company Payableamong other businesses.
Challenge for Channel 4
Daniela and her sisters face the natural challenge of any succession process added to the weight of having had the father they did. At first, we can list two: SBT is losing its audience on weekdays, even losing third place to Band at some times; the other is to increase revenue and profit in a changing media market.
While Globo, the country’s largest broadcaster, earns more than R$15 billion per year and Record, in second place, comes close to R$2 billion, SBT has stagnated at R$1 billion in annual revenue for at least six years. , according to documents accessed by InvestNews at the Commercial Board.
In the last line of the balance sheet, SBT recorded a net profit of R$31.1 million in 2023, at the same time as Record (R$533 million) and Globo (R$838.7 million) had profits in the hundreds of millions of reals.
The most prominent challenge is the dispersion of advertising revenues between the country’s five main TV stations against YouTube, streaming platforms and pay TV. With bets on programs that did not resonate and a weak audience in 2024, SBT has a thorny path in 2025 to reach the financial power of its competitors.
READ MORE: Everyone wants to be a bet: Globo, Grupo Silvio Santos and Flamengo plan their own betting houses
