Grupo Olmos

The holding owns two large business areas: Grupo Crónica, limited to the media trust, and Grupo Basa, which includes health care providers and health services. It is owned by brothers Raúl and Darío Olmos, born in Mendoza, who had no family money and whose business grew parallel to their ties with powerful union leaders in Argentina. Antonio Caló, Secretary General of the Metallurgy Labor Union (UOM), took Raúl Olmos as his right-hand man to manage the Union, and the latter’s business evolution matched the union’s close relationship with the administrations of Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The Caló brothers arrived in the media industry in 2005 when they bought newspaper Crónica and publishing house Editorial Sarmiento to its founding father, Héctor Ricardo García, who was sentenced to prison for tax evasion in an unprecedented court ruling. Six years later, García faced prosecution for the same issue and got rid of 51% of channel Crónica TV. In 2016 Grupo Olmos purchased the whole media.

Currently, news channel Crónica TV, which has traditionally addressed the working classes, is the main of the group's 11 media. It also controls newspapers Crónica and BAE Negocios, and political magazine Veintitrés, all of which are currently in their record low audience and circulation levels. Moreover, the group owns about a third of the stock of production company Underground, which has created some of the most watched TV shows and films in Argentina.

For its part, Grupo Basa, Grupo Olmos’s health area, provides health care services to 800,000 members of the health scheme dependent on the Metallurgy Labor Union (UOM) and of PAMI, the State health scheme for retirees and pensioners. The holding manages 18 hospitals and clinics across the country, the lab network Laboratorios Olmos S.A., a pharmacy network, the emergency service Serca and seven disability centers (CTET).