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Randel A. Falco (born December 26, 1953) is an American media executive. Falco was president and CEO of Univision Communications Inc. from June 2011 until retiring in June 2018. Before joining Univision in January 2011 as executive vice president and COO, he served as chairman of the board and CEO of AOL from November 2006 to March 2009. Prior to his tenure at AOL, he spent 31 years at NBC, including serving as the network's president and COO.
Falco served as COO for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympic, the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning multiple Emmy Awards for these broadcasts.
Under Falco, AOL acquired social networking website Bebo for $850 million in 2008,Edgecliffe, Andrew. (2008-03-13) / In depth – AOL to ‘supercharge’ Bebo revenues. Ft.com. Retrieved on 2013-01-03. but a few months later global financial markets imploded and Bebo's value dropped.
AOL later sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners in 2010 for an undisclosed sum which was reportedly under $10 million. In 2009, Falco was replaced as CEO by Google Ad Chief Tim Armstrong.
As CEO, Falco has said he is focused on making UCI, which is acknowledged by Business Insider as an “extremely important media brand,” the most heavily engaged media brand. Under his leadership, Univision has undergone a company-wide expansion that has included the launch of new networks, including Univision tlNovelas, Univision Noticias, and Univision Deportes, which features soccer matches from the Mexican Primera División and Ligue 1. In 2013, Univision announced the launch of El Rey, a new network geared towards young-adult audiences led by Robert Rodriguez. That year Univision also rebranded its TeleFutura network into UniMás, which targets males ages 18 to 35, broadcasts telenovelas, soccer events, reruns of classic shows and feature films. In the summer of 2013, Falco negotiated Univision's joint venture with ABC/Disney to launch "Fusion", a 24-hour, English-language cable news network. ABC News and Univision Announce New Cable Network Will be Called Fusion - ABC News
During his tenure at Univision since 2010, Falco has presided over big, strategic changes that aim to respond to the media disruption that affects the industry. He planted Univision firmly in digital turf by buying Gawker out of bankruptcy for $135 million, purchasing a 40.5% controlling stake in the parent of humor-oriented The Onion for $27 million and forming a video streaming JV with Lionsgate–all in 201646. After the acquisitions, Univisión generates over 100 million monthly unique visitors, one of the largest market shares for media outlets in the United States. After launching Story House, an independent production unit owned by UCI, its first TV series about cartel kingpin "El Chapo" Netflix, received critical acclaim and record ratings. Netflix licensed the series with a second window for Univision that year.
Univision's Galavisión remains the No. 1 Spanish-language cable network. Under Falco, Univision has also forged a partnership with Hulu; started UVideos, a digital online network for streaming content; acquired exclusive multi-year rights to Mexican professional football club Chivas De Guadalajara of Liga MX; and launched several new apps and websites to broaden the distribution of its content across new platforms.
In addition, under Falco, Univision celebrated its 50th anniversary in the fall of 2012 by unveiling a new brand logo and a new tagline identifying Univision as the “Hispanic Heartbeat of America.” In July 2013, Univision announced its quarterly earnings were $40.7 million, 28 percent higher than in 2012. “Our aggressive push to take share from the English-language networks is working,” Falco said.
Under Falco's guidance, Univision developed the UCI Total Reach Score ratings system. Through this new system, Univision has been able to detect an increased audience of 45 million consumers, an increase of 10 percent from 2013.
In 2013, Falco and his team started the award-winning Univision Contigo (Univision With You). Univision Contigo is an initiative that provides the U.S. Hispanic community with access to information and resources focused on education, health, prosperity and participation.
Falco's Univision contract was extended to last through 2020, however, in March 2018, the company announced that he will be retiring by the end of 2018. The retirement announcement came 24 hours after Univision abandoned its long-planned IPO strategy and replaced its CFO.
In June 2016, after then-candidate Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about Hispanics in a campaign speech, Falco canceled Univision's agreement to televise the Trump-owned Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. According to Hollywood Reporter, “As the mainstream media is struggling with how to cover Trump, Falco is positioning Univision squarely as an advocate for its mostly Spanish-speaking audience.”
In September 2016, Falco took on the Commission on Presidential Debates once again. In an open letter to executive director Janet H. Brown, published in Variety, Falco wrote: “I am writing to express disappointment, and frankly disbelief, that the Commission on Presidential Debates has not chosen a Hispanic journalist to moderate the presidential debates. Simply put: it’s an abdication of your responsibility to represent and reflect one of the largest and most influential communities in the U.S.”
In August 2017, following violent race-related clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, Falco spoke out against the White House response and called upon corporate leaders to act. As reported on deadline.com: “Without mentioning Trump by name, Falco said in an open letter that he opposes the ‘abject failure to clearly and forcefully denounce the actions of white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and others who espouse racist and hateful views.’ He adds that the ‘current insanity threatens to spiral out of control and has to stop. Leadership is needed. Leaders from corporate America must step in to protect the communities we serve, as so many leaders in our nation’s Capital are failing to speak out forcefully and clearly against the spreading hate and bigotry.’”
Beginning in September 2017, on eight separate occasions Falco took action in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He told Adweek, “Univision will continue to stand by the thousands of talented DREAMers whose stories are unmistakably American. The loss of DREAMers in our workforce and in our communities will result in significant harm to the success of this great nation and to organizations like Univision that give voice to the underrepresented.” In January 2018, Univision expanded its efforts in support of the DACA program by creating an interactive tool that enables DACA supporters to easily make their voices heard by legislators nationwide to help protect Dreamers and modernize the country's immigration system.
Falco also led Univision's efforts to support those impacted by a series of natural disasters in 2017. On September 23, 2017, a seven-hour telethon, Unidos por los Nuestros (United for Each Other) that aired across the networks of Univision enabled the American Red Cross to raise more than $3 million to assist the survivors and victims of the Mexican earthquakes and Hurricane Maria, as well as ongoing support for communities impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. In addition, Univision employees traveled to Puerto Rico to deliver shipments of emergency supplies from Univision and some of its business and community partners.
In 2018, Falco was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his “Outstanding Service and Commitment to the Latino community”.
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