Frias de Oliveira, Octavio

▪ 2008

      Brazilian publishing magnate

born Aug. 5, 1912 , Rio de Janeiro, Braz.

died April 29, 2007 , São Paulo, Braz.

established (1962) Folha de São Paulo, which became the largest newspaper in Brazil, and was instrumental in introducing several technological advances in the country's media, including the publication of his newspaper on the Internet and the large-scale use in 1967 of colour offset printing. Frias, who also owned several smaller papers, was one of the few publishers to maintain freedom of speech in his newspapers after Brazil's 1964 military coup, which saw the overthrow of the democratically elected government. In 1976 the audacious Frias initiated a page (Trends/Debates) in the Folha de São Paulo that was devoted to open discussion, both positive and negative, of the military regime. The parent company that Frias managed, Grupo Folha, also had partial ownership and controlling interest in several ventures, including the newspapers Agora and Valor Econômico, the publishing house Publifolha, the newspaper distribution company Transfolha, the graphic design company Plural, and the research firm Instituto Dadafolha. In 1996 Grupo Folha launched Universo Online (UOL), which became Brazil's largest Web portal. Frias took an active interest in the company until a fall in November 2006 curtailed his involvement.

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