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Brazilian media mogul Silvio Santos dead at 93, SBT television says

Brazilian media mogul Silvio Santos, who went from street vendor to owner of a. service empire including among the nation's largest TV. channels, died at the age of 93, his broadcaster SBT said on. Saturday.

Today heaven mores than happy with the arrival of our cherished. Silvio Santos, SBT said on X. Rest in Peace, you will always. be everlasting in our hearts.

According to his medical report, Silvio Santos passed away of. bronchopneumonia in the early hours of Saturday, after he had. been hospitalized in Sao Paulo with a case of H1N1 flu considering that the. beginning of August.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shared his. acknowledgements on X on Saturday, calling Silvio Santos the. greatest personality in the history of Brazilian tv and. one of the country's great communicators.

Silvio Santos, the stage name that Senor Abravanel adopted. for his media profession, founded in the 1980s the SBT TV channel,. among the three most viewed TV stations in Brazil and for. years the only real competitor for audience to television Globo, among. the biggest media corporations in the Americas.

Unlike other media moguls, Silvio Santos was likewise a showman,. routinely hosting his own TV shows up until about 2022.

He successfully hosted video game shows that ended up being very popular. with lower-income households. One of his tricks was to throw. paper aircrafts made of cash bills into the audience, who would. fight for them.

The kid of Sephardic Jewish immigrants from the previous. Ottoman Empire who settled in Rio de Janeiro's Lapa district,. Abravanel started working as a teen selling plastic. protections for cards in the streets.

He was spotted by a radio station and got employed as radio. commentator. He later on switched to TV and hosted programs on local. channels during the 1960s-1970s, consisting of TV Globo, before. establishing SBT television in 1981.

His service empire, which included a cosmetics company, a. monetary company and realty possessions, was valued by Forbes at. over $1 billion in 2016.

In 2001, he made headlines when he was abducted for seven. hours by an abductor who a couple of days earlier had taken his. daughter captive. The kidnapping was broadcast live by local TV. stations.

Abravanel had 6 children, two from a very first marriage,. consisting of one who was adopted, and 4 from his 2nd marriage. with Iris Passaro Abravanel.

(source: Reuters)