United Airlines’ Oscar Munoz Named to Univision’s Board of Directors

Oscar Munoz is ready to share his (Uni)vision

The 61-year-old Mexican-American businessman and executive chairman of United Airlines has been named as an independent director on Univision’s board of directors.

Oscar Munoz

Prior to his role at United Airlines, Munoz served on the board of parent company United Continental Holdings (UCH) and held multiple executive positions at CSX Corporation and AT&T.

Univision, the Hispanic media giant whose takeover by private equity investors led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis will soon close, has also named SoftBank Group COO Marcelo Claure; Estée Lauder Companies SVP of public affairs María Cristina “MC” González Noguera; and veteran Walmart exec Gisel Ruiz to the board.

It’s understood that Univision will name at least four more members to the board when the pending takeover by new majority investors is complete. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2020.

ForgeLight, a firm run by Davis, and Searchlight Capital Partners are buying majority control of Univision from a collection of other private equity investors. Mexico-based production power Televisa is keeping its 36% stake.

Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Saban Capital Group acquired the company for $13.7 billion in 2007, beating out a rival bid from Televisa. The current transaction, which is expected to close at the end of the year, is expected to value the company at less than $10 billion.

Davis exited Viacom when it merged with CBS last December, emerging soon thereafter as the leader of the Univision bid. The deal, announced last February, was initially expected to close over the summer.

Univision has been run since 2018 by CEO Vince Sadusky. The local television and Hispanic media veteran replaced predecessor Randy Falco after the longtime former NBC exec made a series of out-of-the-box investments in English-language websites and ill-fated cable network venture Fusion. Sadusky has implemented a “back-to-basics,” Spanish-language refocus in an effort to help the flagship broadcast network regain ground it had lost to U.S. rival Telemundo in some pockets of the schedule.

González Claims Taekwondo Gold at the London Games

London Olympics 2012

Joel González Bonilla is Spain’s golden boy of taekwondo…

The 22-year-old Spanish martial artist beat South Korea’s Lee Dae-Hoon at the 2012 Olympic Games on Wednesday to claim the gold medal in the men’s under-58kg taekwondo final. It’s his first-ever Olympic title.

Joel González

González, the reigning world champion, beat Lee—a world champion who’d moved down from the non-Olympic under-63kg category to compete at the London Games—in an action-packed final.

Even though Lee was on the attack more often in the match, González managed to block most of Lee’s kicks while productively counterattacking with head shots.

Joel González

González struck first in the opening round, connecting with a three-point head kick to open up a 5-2 lead. The kick wasn’t originally scored but the Spaniard questioned the referee’s decision and was awarded the score after a video review.

“I thought it was clear that I touched him so I asked my coach to challenge it. It was then clear, they gave it to me and of course it was important to gain that advantage,” said “It goes without saying that it was very important and the three points meant I had a big advantage.” he said.

Joel González

Lee closed the gap with two unanswered points until a flurry of late kicks in the second round saw González extend his lead to 8-4.

In the final round, a brutal axe-kick that connected with the Korean’s mouth and sent him crashing to the canvas proved to be the final nail in the Lee’s coffin.

Lee’s camp made a hopeful challenge, claiming a three-point head kick for him, but that was rejected and his lingering hopes of victory died.

González did get a scare by Sweden’s Uno Sanli (7-6) and Australia’s Safwan Khalil (5-3) in his first two rounds but easily overcame Colombia’s Oscar Munoz 13-4 in the semifinals.