Grupo Extra announced that starting Monday, July 3, it would resume its journalistic work in the virtual world and, a week later, in print.
The Transcomer Group bought the media company Grupo Extra, which closed on May 31 after 45 years. The acquisition includes Diario Extra, TV42, and Radio América.
Óscar Gutiérrez Lachner, general manager of the brokerage firm, announced the restart of media operations and said that the Transcomer brokerage firm has experience in the financial and real estate areas, in addition to construction, real estate projects, and hospitality.
Transcomer is a Stock Brokerage Firm that operates exclusively in Bolcomer (Stock Exchange) and is regulated and supervised directly by Bolcomer Stock Exchange. It was founded in 2003, and since then, it has mainly focused on Real Estate transactions.
“We feel that Diario Extra fulfills a need in Costa Rica to keep the country informed impartially and transparently. La Extra is the people’s voice; when I saw the closure announcement, I thought it was a tragedy. We got in touch with Iary (Gómez), we made perfect chemistry, and it was clear to me that she had to stay in front”, stated Gutiérrez.
The closure of Grupo Extra
On May 31, Grupo Extra de Costa Rica announced the closure of operations for its newspaper, television channel, and radio station, mainly due to economic reasons.
The owner of Grupo Extra, Iary Gómez, said in a message on Grupo Extra’s Channel 42 that the reasons for the closure are the lack of advertising, the lack of economic reactivation of the country and the economic aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, several Costa Rican media reported that a legal dispute with a shareholder in March of last year forced Sociedad Periodística Extra Limitada to pay US$5.9 million to prevent the Costa Rican Judicial Court from declaring a bankruptcy proceeding against the company.
The court ruled in favor of the shareholder, but in March 2022, the company appealed the decision, delaying the execution of the order.
Clean slate
According to the press conference, Iary Gómez will continue with the company as media director. She indicated they would begin contacting the personnel dismissed for their respective rehiring this week.
“It’s a clean slate. We’re back in the trenches,” Gomez said.
The new owners also said they expect to relaunch the newspaper on July 10. This is great news for Costa Rica’s journalism industry and for the country’s democracy.
