Urbano Cairo was born in Milan on 21 May 1957. He is married and has four children.
Since August 2016, Mr Cairo has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RCS MediaGroup. He acquired 59.7% of the Company through a full voluntary tender and exchange offer, which prevailed over an offer from IMH and valued the Group as a whole at over 500 million euros.
Mr Cairo graduated from Bocconi University in Milan with a degree in Business and Economics. He began his career in 1981 at the Fininvest Group, which was followed by a position at Publitalia ’80 where he became Deputy Director General. In 1991, he accepted the role of Chief Executive Officer at Mondadori Pubblicità.
In 1995, he founded Cairo Pubblicità S.p.A., an advertising broker that started by selling space for certain RCS magazines. In 1997, he expanded the Group’s structure with the launch of Cairo Due S.p.A., which manages advertising sales in innovative and alternative media, reaching an overall turnover of about 50 million euros. In 1998, Mr Cairo continued to expand, setting up Cairo TV S.p.A. (following the acquisition of 100% of Tele+ Pubblicità from the Tele+ Group), a broker dedicated to analogue and digital pay TV that in just three years tripled its pre-acquisition turnover.
In 1999, he acquired all of the shares of Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori, the prestigious publishing house that prints some of Italy’s most popular and sophisticated monthly publications such as Bell’Italia, Bell’Europa, Airone, In Viaggio, Gardenia, and Arte e Antiquariato. Thanks to structural changes and a new editorial policy, the company quickly reached breakeven compared to a pre-acquisition loss of 5 million euros, while keeping headcount unchanged and maintaining the high quality of the publications.
In 2000 he purchased Il Trovatore, an internet search engine with proprietary technology able to offer content and advanced services appreciated by users. In July 2000, Cairo Communication was listed on the Italian stock exchange, selling approximately 26% of its capital and gaining the funds (over 100 million euros) that would allow it to act on future development opportunities through internal growth, launching start-ups, new acquisitions and/or making equity investments in companies that operate in the communications sector.
In 2002, he signed an exclusive multi-year contract for advertising sales on La7 through Cairo Communication, in doing so entering the Commercial TV sector, the most important segment of the Italian advertising market. In its first year the company’s turnover almost doubled and in the third year it surpassed the contractual targets for renewal. Thanks to other significant results in a relatively stagnant market, in 2010 he consolidated the relationship with the network with a new long-term agreement.
In 2003 he founded Cairo Editore, giving a significant boost to operations in the printed publication sector through the launch of new and very successful magazines, including For Men Magazine, Natural Style, Dipiù and DipiùTV.
In 2005, he purchased 100% of Torino FC S.p.A. and became President of the club. In just one season he led the team to promotion to Serie A, which more than tripled the number of season pass holders and regenerated the enthusiasm of many fans.
In the years to follow, he continued his strategy of expanding the publishing portfolio with the launch of new titles such as Diva e Donna, Nuovo and F, resulting in Cairo Editore ranking first among Italian weekly publishers for number of copies sold.
In 2013, after lengthy negotiations, Mr Cairo purchased the television network La7 from Telecom and entered the television broadcasting industry. This expanded the Company’s integrated offer considerably and rapidly led to positive margins and reduced losses.
Urbano Cairo is a member of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers (FIEG) Presidential Committee and of the Confindustria Radio Televisioni Board. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A.
