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GMA Network, Inc.

GMA Network, Inc.

GMA Network, Inc. or the Kapuso Network, dominates Philippine media.

It is privately-owned with flagship TV station, GMA 7. It has a free-to-air news and entertainment channel, Good Television or GTV, airing on channel 27. Its flagship radio stations are DZBB 594 on the AM band and 97.1 in the FM band. Its content can also be accessed online via gmanetwork.com.

Nielsen media landscape report for Q2 2023 showed GMA Network’s superior presence in television, AM and FM radio, and online media. Reuters’ 2023 Digital News Report Philippines also revealed GMA Network as the leading news source in both offline and online channels.

The Kapuso network’s top-notch streak has been sustained since the shutdown of its fiercest competitor, ABS-CBN Corporation; Ratings and revenue are on the uptick compared to years before the second-strongest competitor Kapamilya network was forced to cease its free-to-air broadcast operations.

GMA began as a radio station that made its first broadcast on March 1, 1950. It was owned by an American former war correspondent, Robert La Rue Stewart, who later put up the Republic Broadcasting System (RBS). Stewart would later be known on TV as “Uncle Bob.”

In 1961, Stewart was dragged into politics when the presidential re-electionist he was perceived to be supporting, former president Carlos P. Garcia, lost to Diosdado Macapagal. The latter threatened to deport him.

That time, Stewart was the host of Uncle Bob's Lucky 7 Club show, and it was during the program that he announced he was leaving the country. Children and their parents rallied behind him, forcing the government to stop the persecution of Stewart.

When then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. imposed martial law on Sept. 21, 1972 and shut down media, Stewart’s RBS was one of those allowed to operate, but it had to apply for a government permit every three months.

RBS was losing money then and it did not help that the 1973 Constitution limited ownership and management of mass media to Filipino citizens. Because of this, Stewart had to cede control of the station in 1975 to his lawyer Felipe L. Gozon, Gozon’s brother-in-law Menardo Jimenez, and Gozon’s friend and one of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s presidential assistants, Gilberto Duavit, Sr.

The three renamed RBS to GMA for Greater Manila Area, the initial coverage area of the station, which was later changed into Global Media Arts.

Under the triumvirate’s leadership, the network flourished and became competitive.

In 2007, the company went public in spite of an attempt by Sen. Imee Marcos against this. The daughter of the late dictator alleged that their family owned 28.35 percent of shares at GMA Network that were entrusted by then-president Marcos to his assistant, Duavit Sr. The network went on record to insist that members of the Duavit family are the real owners of these shares.

When the Marcoses returned to power following the election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as President in 2022, GMA Network allayed concerns of a possible “ownership takeover.”

GMA Network’s declared revenue for 2015 was P13.727 billion ($293 million). For 2022, GMA’s revenue was over Php 21 billion, with 94 percent of it from advertising.

Felipe Gozon served as the network’s chief executive officer for 23 years. His family, mainly through their companies, is the leading owner of GMA Network, Inc. with around 29.7327% combined direct and indirect common shares.

In 2023, Gozon retired and announced the appointment of GMA president Gilberto Duavit, Jr., son of Duavit Sr., as chief operating officer beginning 2024. Gozon remains as the network’s chairman. Duavit’s family, also mainly through their companies, own around 15.8077% common shares in the broadcast company.

Meanwhile, Gozon’s nephew Joel Marcelo Jimenez, second son of Menardo Jimenez — co-founder and former president of GMA Network, Inc. — has been a director of the network since 2002, and has assumed the post of the company’s executive committee president beginning 2024. The Jimenez family, through their direct and indirect common shares via their companies, is the second majority owner with 27.49270% of GMA Network, Inc.

Gozon, Duavit, Jr., and Jimenez Sr., are among the 50 richest Filipinos in the country according to Forbes list.

Meanwhile, the fourth biggest shareholder in the broadcast company are the stockholders that lodged their shares in the PCD Nominee Corporation which account for 14% of all common stocks. However, GMA did not disclose the full list of beneficial owners of the 470,914,044 common shares as of December 2023.

GMA Network used to form a duopoly in the Philippine media with its fiercest competitor, the Kapamilya network, ABS-CBN Corporation, until the latter was shut down. As of 2016, the two media giants captured 80 percent of the television audience in the country.

When ABS-CBN was denied the renewal of its broadcast franchise and rebranded into a content producer, GMA accommodated co-production partnerships with ABS-CBN, and inked agreements to air Kapamilya films and series.

GMA Network positions itself as neutral, neither pro nor anti-government.

Key facts

Business Form

Private

Legal Form

Stock Corporation

Business Sectors

Marketing | GMA Marketing and Productions Inc. (100%) # Marketing | GMA Worldwide (Philippines), Inc. (100%) # NGO | GMA Kapuso Foundation Inc (common stockholder) # Real Estate | Mont-aire Realty and Development Corp (49%) # Holdings | GMA Ventures (100%) # Others | GMA Holdings, Inc. (common stockholder)

Ownership

Individual Owner

Media Outlets
Other Media Outlets

Other TV Outlets

GTV

TV-27 Metro Manila, TV-22 Benguet, TV-27 Ilocos Norte, RGMA-40 Ilocos Sur, TV-26 Cagayan, TV-27 Cagayan, RGMA-28 Tarlac, TV-26 Batangas, TV-27 Palawan, TV-26 Occidental Mindoro, TV-27 Albay, TV-27 Capiz, TV-27 Aklan, TV-28 Iloilo,
RGMA-48 Negros Occidental, TV-27 Cebu, TV-28 Negros Oriental, TV-26 Leyte, TV-21 Zamboanga del Sur, TV-26 Zamboanga del , TV-26 Zamboanga del Norte, TV-22 Misamis Occidental, RGMA-43 Misamis Oriental, TV-27 Davao del Sur, TV-26 South Cotabato, TV-27 Maguindanao, TV-26 Sulu, TV-27 Surigao del Norte, TV-27 Masbate (GTV)

Other Radio Outlets

Manila - DZBB 594

Other Online Outlets

GMA News Online, https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/

Facts

Media Business

TV, Music, and Film Production

GMA Network Films, Inc (100%)

Online publishing and advertising

GMA New Media, Inc. (100%)

Sportsbetting and broadcasting

Gamespan Inc. (50%)

Broadcasting

RGMA Network Inc (49%)

Holdings

GMA Ventures (100%)

Others

GMA Holdings, Inc. (common stockholder)

Business

Marketing

GMA Marketing and Productions Inc. (100%)

NGO

GMA Kapuso Foundation Inc (common stockholder)

Real Estate

Mont-aire Realty and Development Corp (49%)

Holdings

GMA Ventures (100%)

Others

GMA Holdings, Inc. (common stockholder)

General Information

Founding Year

1950

Affiliated Interests Founder

Robert La Rue Stewart

A former American war correspondent, Stewart was known for his radio and TV personality “Uncle Bob.”

Employees

2,862 (2023)

Contact

GMA Network Center, EDSA corner Timog Avenue,

Diliman, Quezon City

1101 Philippines

 

Telephone Number: +632-982-7777

Website: www.gmanetwork.com

Tax/ ID Number

000-917-916-000

Financial Information

Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)

248,264,165.94 US$ / 13.766 billion PhP

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

Missing Data

Advertising (in % of total funding)

228,696,635.79 US$ / 12.681 billion PhP

Management

Executive Board

Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr.

assumed the concurrent roles of President and Chief Executive Officer of GMA Network, Inc. on Jan. 1, 2024. He has been a director since 1999, Chairman of the Board of GMA Network Films, President and CEO of GMA Holdings, Inc., and RGMA Marketing and Productions, Inc., Chairman, President, and CEO of Group Management and Development, Inc., and Dual Management and Investments, Inc., Vice Chairman of GMA Ventures, Inc., President and a Trustee of GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc., Trustee of the Guronasyon Foundation, Inc., Board Advisor of the HERO Foundation

Non-Executive Board

Former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban

Independent Director of GMA Network, Inc. since 2007, Independent Director of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Meralco, GMA Holdings, Inc., PLDT, Inc., Petron Corporation, JG Summit Holdings, Inc., Asian Terminals, Inc., RL Commercial Reit, Inc., Non-Executive Director of Jollibee Foods Corporation, Senior Adviser of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company and a member of the Advisory Council of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Chairman, Board of Advisers of Metrobank Foundation, Adviser of DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and MerryMart Consumer Corp., Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, President of the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Foundation, Chairman Emeritus of Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc., and Member, Advisory Group of the World Bank (Philippines) and of the Asian Institute of Management Corporate Governance Center, Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague, The Netherlands, (August 2017) and is the designated Chairperson of the Philippine National Group, Columnist of The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Justice of the Supreme Court (1995), Chief Justice of the Philippines (2005—2006).

Supervisory Board

Missing Data

Other Influential People

Missing Data

Further Information

Active Transparency

company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

4 ♥

Meta Data

GMA Network, Inc. is a publicly listed corporation and is required by law to disclose all company details. The shareholding information is based on the top 100 holders of common shares as of Dec. 31, 2023 and the 2023 definitive information statement of the company.

The Securities Regulation Code, Republic Act 8799, which was enacted into law in 2000, lays down stringent disclosure requirements for companies that wish to make a public offering or that are already publicly listed, including who its beneficial owners are.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Memorandum Circular No. 11, series of 2014, requires all publicly listed companies to post on their websites the following information, among other things:
1) Company profile, mission and vision, Board of Directors, organizational structure, shareholding structure, Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws;
2) The disclosures required by the SEC, including periodic reports, statement of beneficial ownership and the General Information Sheet;
3) Manual on Corporate Governance, Annual Corporate Governance Reports;
4) Company policies on whistleblowing, conflict of interest, insider trading, related party transactions, health and welfare of staff;
5) Investor relations programs and shares, including the total outstanding shares, exchanges where the shares are listed, and the top 20 shareholders of the company.

Audience share based on Nielsen's Philippine Media Landscape Report Q2, 2023 and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's Digital News Report 2023 for the Philippines.

Currency conversion based on the Php-USD exchange rate for 30 November 2023.

Revenue as of 3rd quarter of 2023.

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