Azcárraga steps down as Televisa chief executive amid US soccer investigation

MEXICO CITY — Emilio Azcárraga has stepped down as chief executive of Televisa because he is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice because of a FIFA-related issue, the company informed in its third quarter report to Mexico’s stock market.

The 56-year-old Azcárraga took a leave of absence “with immediate effect” from the position he’s held since the death of his same-name father in 1997.

Televisa, the world’s largest producer of Spanish content, said in the report this week that it decided on Aug. 30 the departure of Azcárraga and it was “still cooperating with the investigation.”

Last year, Televisa settled a lawsuit against it by investors in the United States who accused it of bribing FIFA officials to obtain broadcasting rights for the 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

The latest announcement hit the company’s stock, which suffered an 8.65% loss in the first hours of Friday trading.

In 2017, Alejandro Burzaco testified that Televisa, alongside Brazilian media giant Globo, teamed with a marketing firm to make a $15 million bribe to a FIFA executive to help them secure broadcasting rights to the World Cups of 2026 and 2030.

Burzaco, a key witness at a U.S. bribery trial, testified that the deal was struck with long-time FIFA finance committee chairman Julio Grondona at a 2013 meeting in Zurich.

Back then, Televisa denied any wrongdoing in how it obtained the broadcasting rights for those World Cups.

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