Latino Tipping Point: Univision Expects as Much as $1B From IPO Planned Later This Year
Amid the Trump controversy and rising Latino spending power, Univision is making plans for an IPO later this year.
The biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., Univision has expanded in both traditional markets and high-tech -- be it Internet TV or partnerships with mobile carriers -- in the last year.
Through those initiatives and the pure demographic force of a rising bicultural Latino population in the U.S., Univision has recently emerged out of its niche and into one of the largest TV destinations for 18- to 49-year-old viewers. This puts them on the same tier as America's legacy broadcasters ABC, CBS and NBC, according to the Financial Times' report on Univision's IPO filing.
It also places the company in a strong position to go public. According to Univision's filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, the Latino network generated nearly $3 billion in revenue in 2014 with a net income of nearly $1 million.
Univision was a publicly traded company before but was a victim of the a credit bubble eight years ago and appealed for a buyout. The company still holds $10.4 billion in long-term debt.
The rise (again) of Univision is a sign of the growing commercial power of Latinos in the U.S. -- Nielsen projects Latinos as a whole will hold $1.7 trillion in buying power in the next four years -- along with its corollary rise of political influence.
That rising political influence couldn't have been more visible than last month, when Univision dropped the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which are both partly owned by Donald Trump, from their networks in response to disparaging comments Trump made about Mexican immigrants.
More than being an isolated case, NBC soon joined Univision in dumping Trump from their airwaves. Even clothier Macy's followed suit and dropped Trump's menswear line from its stores.
In a discussion on the influence of Hispanics on the economy for NPR's Morning Edition, Pew Research Center's director of Hispanic research Mark Hugo Lopez commented, "The young Latino is going to be the big part of audience growth moving forward because that's where a lot of the growth in the nation's youth population is coming from." The average age of Latinos is 27, according to research.
Morning Edition concluded, "Latino-Americans are at a tipping point, where they realize they have the power to punish Trump for his unfounded comments," as NPR News' Alexandra Starr put it.
For Latinos, it means coming to terms with a newfound power in media, economic, social and political matters.
For Univision, it means an IPO that could raise, according to CNN Money, more than $1 billion and raise the value of the company to as much as $20 billion -- debt included.
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