Azcárraga resigns as CEO of Televisa amid US soccer investigation

MEXICO CITY — Emilio Azcárraga has resigned as chairman of Televisa because the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating him over a FIFA-related case, the company said in its third-quarter report to the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Azcárraga, 56, has taken a leave of absence “with immediate effect” from the position he has held since the death of his father of the same name in 1997.

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

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

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

In 2017, Alejandro Burzaco testified that Televisa, along with Brazilian media giant Globo, worked with a marketing firm to pay a FIFA executive a $15 million bribe to help them secure broadcast rights to the To secure the 2026 and 2030 World Championships.

Burzaco, a key witness in a U.S. bribery trial, said the agreement was reached in a 2013 meeting in Zurich with longtime FIFA Finance Committee Chairman Julio Grondona.

At the time, Televisa denied any wrongdoing in obtaining the broadcast rights for these World Cups.

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