29 / 10 / 2024

Who controls the media in Greece: 12+1 conclusions from Solomon’s investigation

Solomon's investigation, "Who owns the media?" has documented, for the first time, on an interactive platform, the business activities and interests of the oligarchs behind Greece’s major media groups.

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Solomon published the investigation “Who owns the media” in November 2022, aiming to explore two central questions:

  • Who are the top businessmen who control the media In Greece?
  • And how much do we really know about their other business activities in Greece and abroad?

We focused on a total of ten examples of important businessmen that contribute to the economic life of the country: Giannis and Themistocles Alafouzos, Vardis Vardinogiannis, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, Thodoros Kyriakou, Vangelis Marinakis, Dimitris Melissanidis, Victor Restis, and Ivan Savvidis, as well as to the business trio of Dimitris Bakos, Yiannis Kaimenakis and Alexandros Exarchou.

After investigating thousands of financial statements, corporate announcements, and court decisions and searching the commercial registries of over 30 countries, we have listed hundreds of companies of interest around the world.

We collected information on corporate ownership, shareholders, and beneficiaries of not only media groups but every company we could document as being owned by the same corporation around the world. Our research covered sectors such as shipping and sports, energy and construction, in countries such as Cyprus, the Marshall Islands, and Liberia.

Our investigation is the first systematic attempt to record the interests of the leading businessmen behind Greece’s dominant media groups. Findings are presented on a freely accessible platform (whoownsthemedia.gr), where one can also find information regarding the methodology we followed, as well as related media stories.

The main conclusions could be summarized as follows:

1. Hundreds of companies worldwide

We recorded a total of 762 companies in 32 countries. Half (386) are based in Greece, followed by Cyprus (122) and the Marshall Islands (61) – two countries that the Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) recognizes as tax havens.

We identified many companies in Russia (38), as Ivan Savvidis has had a strong business presence in the country for decades.  Next is Liberia (34), which is favored by Greek shipowners, the Netherlands (24) and the United Kingdom (19). Following is the United Arab Emirates (14), which is also a tax haven for the Greek state, Norway (10) and Luxembourg (8).

2. Why Cyprus and the Marshall Islands?

The many Cypriot companies are explained by the fact that the country is an attractive destination for setting up a business: low taxation, the existence of an extensive network of tax agreements with third countries (including Greece) to avoid double taxation, but also a legal framework that allows accounting and law firms to appoint nominal directors and shareholders to their client companies, ensuring their anonymity to a significant extent.

Also, besides the widespread use of the English language in the financial sector, company law is based on British law and is consistent with EU company law, which makes Cyprus even more attractive for the establishment of companies.

The Marshall Islands are popular as many shipowners choose this base as headquarters of their shipping companies. In the context of our investigation, in the Marshall Islands we identified the companies of Giannis Alafouzos, Vangelis Marinakis, Dimitris Melissanidis, and Thodoris Kyriakou.

3. Vardinogiannis takes the lead

In categorizing the 762 companies, based on the holdings to which they belong, we found that 155 are Vardinogiannis family holdings (note: we only investigated family members that are active in the media). The Vardinogiannis family has a strong business presence in sectors such as energy, banking, shipping, and the media.

Next, (132) are Bakos-Kaimenakis holdings, largely due to the acquisition of Intrakat and its dozens of subsidiaries owned by the Kokkalis family, followed by Kyriakou holdings (89), Marinakis (87) and Melissanidis (87), Savvidis (68), Restis (62), Alafouzos (57). In last place, are the companies owned by the Giannakopoulos family (24).

4. Shipping comes in strong

We divided the companies into a total of 14 sectors of economic activity. We found that Shipping is still the most powerful business sector for the Greek oligarchs, with a total of 164 companies.

The large number of shipping companies is due to a common practice in the shipping industry, known as the “one ship company”, which is when each ship, owned by the same owner, belongs to its own company. This is done for both legal and financial reasons. The main reason is that in the event of an accident, debt or legal dispute, liability is limited to one ship and not a company that may own dozens more.

Also, depending on the jurisdiction in which a ship is registered, different tax laws apply, allowing owners to optimize their tax status.

After Shipping, Finance (153) is the next sector, which includes holding companies to banks, funds and consulting companies; then Energy (114); Media (94); Real Estate (61); Construction (47); and Industrial (46). Lastly, there is the Agricultural sector (7) and Health (3).

5. Energy on the rise

Leading businessmen have a growing interest in investing in Energy. From the Vardinogiannis family (a total of 68 energy companies), which has controlling shares of Motor Oil and has expanded into green energy and also invests in photovoltaic and wind farms in Greece and abroad, to the entrepreneurs Bakos-Kaimenakis-Exarchos (40 energy companies) that, in addition to owning Volton, are active in photovoltaics across Greece, and control one out of four refineries in the United Arab Emirates.

Over the past two years, the Vardinogiannis family has been in the spotlight due to Motor Oil’s substantial profits in the midst of an energy crisis (profits of €806.6 million for 2023 alone).

6. TV channels: €350 million in debt

Our analysis shows that the media is still not a profitable business for entrepreneurs. The analysis of the financial statements of the country’s largest television stations (SKAI, MEGA, OPEN, ALPHA TV, Star Channel, ANT1, NICKELODEON, RISE TV, MACEDONIA TV, ACTION 24) shows that currently, they owe a total of €350 million to the banks.

The Kyriakou Group is in first place by far, as ANT1 holds the largest debt, owing approximately €170 million.

MEGA is “lucky” as their low debt (€31.7 million) is due to the agreement made by Vangelis Marinakis’ ALTER EGO to assume some of its financial obligations and debt when it acquired the company in 2018, while other liabilities were regulated or written off through the bankruptcy process. Action24 is debt-free, which Bakos-Kaimenakis acquired in 2023 from Dionysis Panagiotakis by paying off existing debts.

7. Shipping – Sports – Media

The financial crisis of 2008 created a weakened landscape in the Media. Families that were traditionally active in the media sector (Vardinogiannis, Kyriakou, Giannis and Themistocles Alafouzos), were joined by new, young entrepreneurs who were looking for opportunities and buying up bankrupt companies such as the Lambrakis Press Group and Fotis Bombolas’ Pegasos Publishing House.

A model of ownership concentration was developed that could be schematically described by the triptych “shipping-sports-media.” Today, the trend seems to be confirmed: of the nine cases of entrepreneurs we examined, only three did not also own a sports team.

The first to follow this particular model was Giannis Alafouzos, who entered the shipping industry in the early 1980s, started working in the media in 1989, and today is the president and CEO of Panathinaikos Football Club.


But the definition of this “triple action” business model is reflected in the businessman Vangelis Marinakis.

In addition to owning the shipping company Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. (formerly Capital Product Partners LP), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, he also owns Olympiacos Football Club, Nottingham Forest FC in the UK and Rio Ave FC in Portugal.

Marinakis also owns Alter Ego Group, which owns a television station (MEGA), two newspapers (Ta Nea, To Vima), eight websites, four magazines and a radio station (My Radio 104.6). Recently, the businessman also bid to purchase Eleftherotypia newspaper.

A third example is the businessman Dimitris Melissanidis. The owner of the Greek oil company Aegean Oil and AEK Football Club (which he sold to Marios Iliopoulos of Seajets in the summer of 2024), has also been active for many years in the shipping and sports industries.

In 2021 Melissanidis and his son, Giorgos Melissanidis, entered the media sector by acquiring the newspaper Naftemporiki, the website naftemporiki.gr and the newspaper’s printing press. In 2022, Naftemporiki TV also started broadcasting, online and through Nova and Cosmote TV.


In addition, it seems like Marios Iliopoulos is following the “shipping – sports- media” pattern: after recently acquiring AEK Football Club, the shipowner did not rule out (for the first time publicly) the possibility of also acquiring a media outlet.

8. Thessaloniki = Ivan

After examining shareholdings and financial statements, the domination of Ivan Savvidis in Northern Greece is clear. From PAOK FC to Souroti Mineral Water, from Makedonia Palace Hotel, Porto Carras hotels, to the port of Thessaloniki and investments in Halkidiki, the dominance of the businessman in Greece’s second-largest city is apparent.

Savvidis also has a strong business presence in southern Russia, specifically in the Rostov region. The Russian Agrokom group, of Savvidis interests, has over 30 subsidiaries in sectors such as the plastics industry, food and agricultural production, real estate, infrastructure, and tourism.

9. The new mediarchs: Bakos, Kaimenakis, Exarchos

Businessmen Dimitris Bakos, Giannis Kaimenakis and Alexandros Exarchou, remain largely unknown to the general public.

Active for decades in the shipping industry, based in the United Arab Emirates, Bakos and Kaimenakis acquired Asteras Tripoli FC in 2003. In recent years, they entered the media industry by buying the regional channels Action 24 and Attica TV, as well as the website flash.gr. Alexandros Exarchou is connected to the business activity of Bakos-Kaimenakis, as they co-exist in the share composition of many companies.

The entrepreneurs control construction company Intrakat and energy company Volton, as well as Attica Bank and Pancreta Bank.

10. Lack of transparency: Owners

The main objective of Solomon’s “Who owns the media?” research was to increase transparency regarding the ownership status of leading media groups, but also the additional business activities of their owners. ​​

Months before publication, we brought our findings to the attention of media groups, asking for their comments in case there were any recent corporate changes. Only Dimitris Giannakopoulos’ DPG Digital Media Group responded to us, sending additional information that we incorporated into our research.

The request we sent to Naftemporiki, owned by Dimitris Melissanidis, was answered by the head of the legal department of Aegean Shipping, which sent us repeated letters preventing us from publishing, citing the “all legal rights reserved” of the principals, Dimitris and Giorgos Melissanidis.

11. The paradoxes

For 20 years, the businessmen Bakos and Kaimenakis appear responsible for the overhaul of the Asteras Tripoli FC, leading them from the amateur categories to European competitions. In our investigation, we could not identify the shareholder structure of the club, although the entrepreneurs are on the Board of Directors of the company and are publicly known to be its owners.

Regarding the business interests of Victor Restis, (Nickelodeon and RISE TV stations), we sent our research findings to the official email address of the TV station Nickelodeon. Pericles Giolias, publisher of Sportime newspaper, replied to us, clarifying that Victor Restis has nothing to do with Sportime. When we asked him in what capacity he was responding to our email, he told us that he is an employee of Victor Restis and that he manages his TV channels.

In regards to Restis company holdings, it is interesting to mention, that to a great extent, the shareholders appear to be his close associates. Also, the same companies use the same address as many other of the shipowner’s companies and share the same contact information as well.

12. Register of Beneficiaries: “closed”

The Register of Beneficiaries, maintained by the General Secretariat for Information Systems, could be a valuable tool for journalistic investigations. It is a digital, central register, where the real beneficiaries of the companies are mandatorily recorded as well as relevant changes.

However, although the Registry is up and running, it is not accessible to the public. The European Court of Justice provides for an explicit exemption for journalists regarding blocked access, but the Ministry of Finance continues to limit access to the Registry to the competent auditing authorities. According to the World Bank, it is estimated that in 70% of corruption cases, anonymous companies are used.

13. NCRTV: invalid data

The National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) is an independent authority for the supervision and regulation of radio and television. The Transparency Department of the NCRTV is in charge of issues such as transfers of radio stations and channels or changes in their corporate capital.

However, there are ownership details that are not listed in the database published by the NCRTV.

For example, an interesting point recorded by Solomon during the investigation is that the real owner of 50% of Alpha TV remains unknown. Although the right to information is constitutionally guaranteed through the operation of the NCRTV, the public is not in a position to know who is part owner of one of the country’s largest TV stations.

Regarding Alpha TV, an interest of the Vardinoyannis family, the NCRTV still lists their previous owners even though the corporate change was announced in July 2022.

Another example is the regional Attica TV, which is currently owned by Bakos and Kaimenakis, but the NCRTV still lists the previous owners (last accessed Oct 16, 2024), thus creating a transparency issue.

Solomon’s media stories

The list of companies presented in Solomon’s “Who owns the media?” investigation is not exhaustive, and this is due to various factors. The main one? Companies are likely to be created or changed every day.

It is worth noting that, during our investigation, we identified over 1,000 companies that appeared to belong to specific business interests. However, choosing to follow a strict methodology, we left out those which did not meet the criteria we had set.

On the website whoownsthemedia.gr you can find details on our methodology and the challenges we faced during the approximately two years of research. You can also read about the investigative team, as well as the Greek and international organizations that supported the research.

The website hosts media stories, and more will gradually be added.

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