Brazilian Media Mogul Silvio Santos Dies at 93, SBT TV Reports

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian media mogul Silvio Santos, who transitioned from a street vendor to the owner of a sprawling business empire including one of Brazil’s largest TV channels, passed away at the age of 93, according to his broadcaster SBT on Saturday.

“Today heaven is happy with the arrival of our beloved Silvio Santos,” SBT announced on X. “Rest in Peace, you will always be eternal in our hearts.”

Santos had been hospitalized in Sao Paulo since early August after contracting the flu.

He was born as Senor Abravanel but took the stage name Silvio Santos for his media career. In the 1980s, he founded the SBT TV channel, becoming one of the three most-watched TV stations in Brazil. For many years, SBT was the only real competitor for viewers against TV Globo, one of the largest media conglomerates in the Americas.

Unlike other media tycoons, Silvio Santos was also a showman, regularly entertaining audiences by hosting his own TV shows until about 2022.

He was particularly loved for hosting game shows that resonated with lower-income families, often throwing paper planes made of money into the crowd, who would scramble to catch them.

Born to Sephardic Jewish immigrants from the former Ottoman Empire who settled in the Lapa district of Rio de Janeiro, Abravanel started working as a teenager selling plastic covers for cards on the streets.

His talent was soon discovered by a radio station, which hired him as a radio announcer. He later moved to TV, hosting shows on local channels during the 1960s and 1970s, including a stint at TV Globo before founding SBT TV in 1981.

His business empire was vast, encompassing a cosmetics company, a financial firm, and real estate. In 2016, Forbes valued his holdings at over $1 billion.

In 2001, Santos made headlines when he was kidnapped for seven hours by an assailant who had taken his daughter hostage just days earlier. The dramatic event was broadcast live on local TV stations.

Santos leaves behind six daughters— two from his first marriage, including one who was adopted, and four from his second marriage to Iris Passaro Abravanel.