Revolcón in Semana Magazine: Ricardo Calderón and Alejandro Santos resign, Vicky Dávila is the new director

Semana Magazine continues to surprise its readers with the latest movements in its journalists’ plant. A month ago they announced that the investigative journalist Ricardo Calderón would be the new director of the magazine while Alejandro Santos became president and Vicky Dávila to the director of digital platforms.

However, on Tuesday several journalists through their social networks reported that things changed radically. Both Calderón and Santos resigned and Vicky became the new director of the magazine.

Through a statement the changes were announced, including that Week and Money will be integrated in a single publication, which will circulate on Sundays. In addition, in the coming weeks all the digital content of Semana y Dinero will be on a single website.

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They also reported that this Tuesday a preliminary agreement was reached between shareholders to increase Gabriel Gilinski’s stake in the company. “In this new stage, the company will continue to focus its strategy on the transformation and strengthening of the organization’s digital platforms”, they assured from the magazine.

In the text, the media assures: “Ricardo Calderón, who recently assumed the direction of Semana magazine, has made the decision to retire for health reasons. Instead the journalist assumes Vicky Dávila, who will remain as editorial director of the entire Grupo Semana. Vicky has driven Semana’s digital transformation, with significant growth in audiences and social networks, since her arrival at the company”.

Felipe López, the founder of Semana, will continue as a shareholder of the Group and apparently will continue to have the editorial role in the magazine.

Faced with the departure of Alejandro Santos, the media does not provide many details, only that he is leaving the company. “To Alejandro Santos and Ricardo Calderón, who are retiring from Grupo Semana, we thank them for their valuable contribution during these years and we wish them great success in their new projects”.

On his Twitter account, Alejandro Santos wrote: “After 20 years in Semana I want to thank all the journalists and collaborators, those of today and those of yesterday, for having achieved the dream of becoming a benchmark in the continent. Thank you”.

Gabriel Gilinski, the businessman behind Semana

In January 2019, the Gilinkski group acquired 50% of Semana, valued at close to US $ 18 million. The patriarch of this family is Jaime Gilinski Bacal, one of the richest men in Colombia. According to Forbes magazine, his fortune amounts to US $ 3.5 billion and he owns the GNB Sudameris Bank.

However, the idea of ​​buying Semana came from his son Gabriel Gilinski, who at 33 is one of the most projected entrepreneurs in Colombia.

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In an interview with El Tiempo, Gabriel assured about the acquisition: “It is evident that the habits of the audiences are evolving. What is not going to change is the demand for relevant and informative content. The key is to preserve independence and credibility, and to achieve that it is necessary to recruit and retain the best talent “. And he added that he sees a huge business potential for Semana in this new digital era.

In that same interview he did not close the possibility of buying more media: “First I want to implement the strategy that we have defined in Semana with my partners Felipe and María López, and demonstrate concrete results. Get it right. But yeah, I’m constantly looking at growth opportunities. “said the billionaire.