Aristidis Alafouzos

Aristeidis Alafouzos (Greek: Αριστείδης Αλαφούζος; 9 March 1924 – 17 May 2017) was a Greek shipowner, civil engineer and media mogul. In the media area he was best known for his ownership of the Kathimerini newspaper.

Early life Alafouzos was born in Oia on the island of Santorini to Ioannis Alafouzos a member of a shipping and political family on the island.

A year after his birth there was a volcanic eruption on the island, which led his family to move to Piraeus, where Aristides went on to study at the Second Piraeus Middle School for Boys, excelling at mathematics. By 1967 he had a fleet of five secondhand tramp steamers and bulk carriers. He opened an office in London, where he lived until April 1988. At the same time, he opened an office in Tokyo, that reflected the strong ties he had developed with the Japanese market. He was to also establish an office in Moscow. In 1969, he ordered five ships from a German shipyard.

In 1985 Alafouzos took advantage of the shipping slump to establish Kyklades Maritime Corporation with which he entered the oil tanker market by taking advantage of a crisis in the shipping sector to buy 16 tankers aged between three and 10 years at a very good price Under Alafouzos, Kathimerini grew in circulation and influence in Greece. Alafouzos was also able to purchase from Koskotas the SKY 100.4 radio station, which he developed into the Skai Group, which grew to become one of Greece's largest media groups, with a television station, three radio stations, a news web portal and a publishing house.

In 1998 the Kathimerini and the International Herald Tribune set up a joint venture to publish the English-language daily Kathimerini in Greece, Cyprus and Albania.

Together with Giorgio Bobolas, Christos Lambrakis, Christos Tegopoulos and Vardis Vardinogiannis, Alafouzos was one of the five founding members of the Teletypos company who created the first private Greek television channel, Mega TV. This began broadcasting in November 1989. Later on Alafouzos left Teletypos.

Controversy In later years SKAI opposed the government of Konstantinos Mitsotakis, with Alafouzos stating in an interview in October 1993 with the journalist Georgia Kontrarou that their relationship had broken down because the latter was constantly "asking for money" from 1989 elections onwards.

Under Alafouzos' ownerships Kathimerini had a liberal-conservative political orientation. Alafouzos's media companies had controversial relations with the Tsipras led government, mostly centred on the Skai owned radio and TV stations. The boycott ended before the July 2019 elections.

Honours In December 2015 he was awarded the Lloyd's List/Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards." He was also honored with the "Order of the Rising Sun" by the Emperor of Japan and with the honorary title of "Friendship Ambassador" by the Chinese government.

Death Alafouzos died on 17 May 2017 at the age of 93.

Personal life Alafouzos married Eleni "Lena" Valaouris in 1955. Eleni who had been born in 1929 died in 2012.

Their son, Giannis, was born in 1957, and Themistocles was born the following year.