Marc

Marc Murtra has been at the helm of Telefónica for a year and has done something that his predecessor did not achieve in a decade: slimming down the company

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Marc Murtra wears just over a year at the head of Telefónica and the 2025 numbers begin to validate its thesis: concentrate on four markets (Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom) and avoid the rest. Group income have grown by 1.5%, up to 35,120 million eurosand the adjusted profit reaches 2,122 million. On paper, it works. Why is it important. Telefónica has done in two years what it was not able to do in a decade: get rid of Latin American ballasts (Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador…) and redraw its perimeter. The result is a smaller, but more predictable company. And in Spain, where it has not grown since 2008, it has once again shown signs of life: +1.7% in revenue, up to 13,012 million. The backdrop. The Álvarez-Pallete stage cut the debt of the Alierta stage by halfbut it was still a brutal debt and the company had a geographical dispersion that consumed a lot of management energy without a return that was far from proportional. Murtra has opted for surgery: sell assets, continue reducing debt (337 million less in 2025, it is already at 26,824 million) and bet on markets where Telefónica has real muscle. The logic is clear. And the execution, reasonably clean. Between the lines. Brazil is now the financial heart of the group, and that has implications that go beyond quarterly results. Vivo, Telefónica’s local brand in the country, has earned more than 1,000 million euros net in 2025, 11.2% morewith an Ebitda of 41.7% that would make any European telecom company blush. Its 5G network already covers two-thirds of the Brazilian population and leads the market by number of customers. Brazil should no longer be considered an emerging market with potential: right now it is the most mature and profitable asset that Telefónica has. There is also a background reading that the results do not make explicit but that the context does suggest: the demand for data in Latin America is accelerating precisely now due to the pull of AI: more consumption in the cloud, more traffic, more need for infrastructure. Telefónica has sold its Latin American subsidiaries just when that market may be entering a new phase of growth. It is the big question that presumably no one at Telefónica wants to answer openly. Main winner? Brazil, without a doubt, but also Spain. The domestic business has broken a curse of almost two decades and is beginning to generate cash in a stable manner. That debt goes down, albeit slowly, while income goes up, is the combination that the market has been waiting for for years. Main loser? The United Kingdom. Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), the joint venture in which Telefónica has 50%, has registered net losses of 1,852 million euros in 2025 (up from £19m the previous year) following a goodwill impairment charge of more than £1bn. Its income has fallen 5.3%. And by 2026, the company itself expects service revenue to drop between 3% and 5% more, dragged down by integration with Daisy Group in May 2025. The British telecommunications market is in a price war that has no easy winners, and VMO2 has been sailing against the tide for some time. The big question. Murtra has shown the ability to clean up the balance and simplify the map. What has not yet been demonstrated is that Telefónica can grow organically and sustainably in its four key markets. Spain and Brazil are making progress, but Germany continues to be a story of pending consolidation and the United Kingdom is getting complicated. The plan is well designed. Now it’s time to execute it. In Xataka | We need more and more data centers. And Telefónica is building them in its old telephone exchanges Featured image | Telephone

The mansions of the most exclusive urbanization in Spain are usually a mystery. Marc Márquez has opened it up a little

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The MotoGP rider has had no shame in reveal the value of his mansion in La Finca, along with other details about how he manages an asset that exceeds 80 million euros. Far from the clichés of the millionaire athlete, Márquez talks about fiscal responsibility, professional advice and a clear philosophy: money has not changed his lifestyle (or at least not in everyday things). The mansion as an investment, not as a whim. Marc Márquez has resided since 2022 in La Finca, the most exclusive urbanization in Pozuelo de Alarcón, where he has neighbors such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Cristina Pedroche. His property, valued at around 10 million euros, has 1,300 square meters distributed in seven rooms, a gym, a two-story swimming pool and a minimalist aesthetic with straight lines and light tones. When asked about the price, the pilot responds: “10 million? Around there. That area is around there. But it is an investment,” according to declared on Imagin’s ‘The End of the Month Podcast’. He also states that “the house is paid for.” This case, in fact, It was owned by Mariano Díazformer Real Madrid player and current Deportivo Alavés forward. The jump to Madrid. The move from Cervera to the capital was not just a matter of comfort. According to revealed to ‘Todo Circuit’the decision was motivated by medical reasons, being close to his doctors after the injuries that have marked his career, and by logistical efficiency. “I save hours on the train, with events and commitments,” he explained. The Finca also offers you the privacy you are looking for, being a refuge where you can disconnect from the circuit without fanfare. The lesson of the first million. The path to economic stability began in 2013, when Márquez won his first MotoGP title at just 20 years old. That bonus of more than a million euros opened his eyes about money management. “More than 50%, bam!, Treasury. 10% for the manager, training motorcycles…”, remembered in that same interview. It was then that he met the lawyer who still advises him and learned the importance of not losing his mind: “They told me: ‘it seems like a lot, but it’s little, leave it in the bank.’” Since then, he assures that his advice is provided by a lawyer and an accounting manager, without limited companies. “I am self-employed, I am not a company, I do not have a SL,” he says. An empire beyond motorcycles. In addition to his residence, Márquez has diversified his assets with investments in the audiovisual sector with his brother Álex. They participate in companies such as Fast Brothers Productions, dedicated to film and series production, and Café Para Muy Cafeteros, focused on podcasts. They also founded Vertical Management SL, specialized in representation and advice of athletes and content creators, together with Vertical Content Creators SL and Bamboleo Events SL, the latter focused on organizing sporting events. With this network of companies, he not only manages his image, but also builds a professional future that will be very good for him once he retires from his profession. 2025, year of 10. His season with Ducati has been historic: he has won his ninth world title, achieved 11 victories in grand prix and 14 in sprint. This, according to Forbes, has reported him extraordinary income that totals more than 5 million euros in bonuses, in addition to his base salary of 12 million. Added to this are sponsorships with brands such as Estrella Galicia, Alpinestars, Shoei or Audi, which represent a substantial part of a total assets that exceeds 80 million euros. Money without posturing. “I’m lucky that money hasn’t changed my lifestyle,” says Márquez. “I have the same time with my friends anywhere, I don’t need to show off.” He has no debts, declares himself self-employed and maintains a low profile. “I don’t want to be in the newspapers or anything like that,” he confesses. It is the same solvency with which he rides a Ducati: a cool head, long-term vision and feet on the ground. In Xataka | An atoll in the South Pacific has become a magnet for millionaires. Its great attraction is not its beaches, it is its banks

Ducati signed Marc Márquez to win races. They did not count on that it would also empty their safe

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Marc Márquez carries An impeccable season As for podiums and that means that Ducati has to scratch his pocket more and more to comply with the salary agreements to which he promised with the Pilot de Cervera. The military ride that Márquez is starring in his first season with Ducati is getting A infarction record being the first pilot to chain three major awards of absolute domain, linking six victories with Sprint and Carrera. Ducati’s accountant is afraid the worst. A start of the season that breaks molds. Marc Márquez has revolutionized the MotoGP world in its first season with the Ducati team. His domain on the track is not only filling the trophy showcases of the Ducati headquarters in Burgus Panigale, but also leaving the accounts of the Italian team dry. In just ten major awards, Márquez has already won almost 1.5 million euros Only in salary bonus By victories, and the figure at the end of the season can be vertigo. His great bet: leave Ducati Honda. Marc Márquez made a risky decision to leave Honda, renouncing one of the highest salaries in the history of motorcycling. Although such and As I said The pilot himself “never entered into details about that aspect because nobody really knows what my salary is in Honda”, different leaks estimated that his salary moved in a fork of between 15 and 18 million euros per season in the Japanese team. Leaving the Japanese team was not going to be a rose path since, before consolidating its entrance to the Ducati team, the six -time MotoGP world champion had to go to the Gresini team, Ducati’s satellite, before making the final jump. Paolo Ciabatti, sports director of Ducati Cors, He pointed out “Surely, the Gresini team cannot afford to pay a pilot the amount of money to which Marc Márquez was accustomed.” The Catalan pilot did not seem to import the salary cut. He would already adjust accounts with the Italians when he arrived in Ducati. Although the exact amount of your file is as secret as it was in Honda, The data They point out that Ducati signed a payroll between 12 and 14 million euros per season for the Spanish pilot. THE KEY: THE BONUS. However, although the base salary agreed by Ducati was not as high as the one he received in Honda, Márquez has managed to get the most out of his contract. The Cervera pilot has been squeezing the Ducati box chaining victories and podiums to go unlocking bonus As if they were the levels of a video game. In the ten major awards played, Márquez accumulates six victories and nine wins in Sprint races, which leaves him as a leading World Cup. All this translates into an increase of 1.38 million euros only as premiums for victories, and we are only in the middle of the championship. Motivation to win. Ducati signed with Márquez some really high cousins. According The published by ACEthe Spanish pilot pocketed 150,000 euros for each Sunday race that wins, and another 40,000 euros for each sprint. To that we must add the bonus to finish second on Sunday, which is 80,000 euros, and the one to finish third, which is 40,000 euros, just like winning a sprint. If Márquez maintains the rhythm in the twelve major awards that remain championship, the progression says that it will end more than three million euros packed as bonus in this section. But there does not end everything. Márquez will enter an additional three million euros premium if world champion is proclaimed. Thus, at 12 or 14 million euros of annual salary agreed, the additional six million that the pilot has unlocked as bonus by victories and sprints would be added. In the end, Márquez has gone well. Someone brought a tila to the Ducati accountant. In Xataka | There was a day that MotoGP rivaled in audiences with football. The Aragon GP confirms that this time has died Image | Ducati Motogt Team

Marc Murtra and his 180º turn compared to Álvarez-Pallete

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Telefónica’s price It has just reached 4.5 eurosits highest level in three years. Just when the new executive president, Marc Murtra, turns his first hundred days at the helm of the Teleco. Why is it important. From the appointment of Murtra in January, the revaluation of Telefónica exceeds 16%. A stock market resurrection that confirms market confidence in the strategic review designed by the former president of Indra to save a telecus whose value 57% had collapsed during Álvarez-Pallete’s mandate. The Catalan engineer has achieved in three months what Telefónica had been trying for years: to recover the favor of investors. And he has done so by executing a very different vision than his predecessor. The panoramic. Murtra has identified two existential problems for Telefónica: Latin American ruin and the ballast of being perceived as a traditional telecus in a technological world. In Latin America, the subsidiaries have weighed the results with millionaire losses: 1,327 million in Argentina, 872 million in Peru (which entered into the bankruptcy of creditors) and 437 million in Chile. The rhythm of divestment has accelerated brutally: Argentina sold for 1,190 million to the Clarín group, Colombia on sale to Millicom for 370 million, and Peru practically given away for 900,000 euros to Integra Tec. The turning point. While leaving the continent that became a financial bleeding for the company – Brazil on the margin -, Murtra has positioned Telefónica as the protagonist in the European consolidation of the sector, raising the debate from the business to the geopolitical. His Inaugural speech at the Mobile World Congress From Barcelona he went straight to the heart of Brussels: “It is time for large European telecommunications companies to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity.” Between the lines. The strategy has two pillars: End the Latin American expansion (except Brazil, which is still profitable) and focus efforts on European markets with greater profitability and legal certainty. Transform Telefónica from a traditional telecus to a technological company, taking advantage of the fact that almost half of its business income (43%) They already come from non -traditional services. With Emilio Gayo as CEO, the duo is creating a balance between operational execution (Gayo) and strategic vision (Murtra) that is working. It is no accident that Gayo has achieved Telefónica España growing in income, Ebitda and customers For the first time since 2018. And now what. Analysts expect Telefónica to reduce their investments in fiber infrastructure to focus more on technological aspects, freeing Indra from this mission so that focus on the defense and aerospace sector. Meanwhile, the market expects important operations, with Vodafone Spain and Digi as possible acquisition objectives to strengthen its position in Spain first … and in Europe later. The turn. The exceptional thing about this change is that Telefónica is about to give Sorpasso to herself: Become a technology services company above Teleco. This turning point where more than half of its business turnover will proceed with technological services, not voice or data, is close. His new narrative as a European tractor is being well received by a market that had been waiting for a pragmatic, clear and decisive turn. The times of the global expansion without control have been left behind. For retailers who have been seeing their heritage for years, this change of course is the arrival of spring. One that can reverde the laurels, even if it is a bit, of the old Matildes. In Xataka | The EU has spent years fiercely fighting monopolies. Teresa Ribera has other plans for telecos Outstanding image | Telefónica

Marc Murtra and Emilio Gayo, the pair that seeks to create a European champion

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The movement was a matter of time. Just a month and a half after The fulminant dismissal of José María Álvarez-Pallete, Marc Murtra has activated the total reorganization of Telefónica. Emilio Gayo’s choice as a new CEO is not just a change of names in the organization chart. It is the first visible piece of a deep transformation that goes far beyond daily management. We are facing a first order turn in the company’s strategy. And the game is played three bands. The Spanish government, represented by the SEPI with Its strategic 10%. Saudi STC, with another 10% that activated all alarms. And Criteria-La Caixa, the third actor of this new hard-acting hard nucleus. Murtra has understood that the telecommunications sector is in total transformation and has placed this vision in the center of its strategy. “It’s time for the large European telecommunications companies to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity,” The new president at the MWC of Barcelona cried out. The message was not subtle or wanted to be. Europe cannot continue with a fragmented telecos market while competing against US and Chinese giants operating in oligopolic conditions. The battle for technological sovereignty is underway, and Telefónica wants to play in First. Gayo does not arrive by chance. Its results in Telefónica España – Revenue Failure, in Ebitda and in Clients For the first time since 2018– They are your presentation letter. An effective manager profile, knowledgeable about the entrails of the Teleco since 2004, which contrasts with the most visionary style and pallete transformer. The new Telefónica bets on a balance between Gayo’s operational execution (the good results support him) and the strategic vision of Murtra (his Europeanist speech confirms it). The next movements will also be a message. Each file that moves hides an intention. It is being created a trust ecosystem around Murtra, While emblematic figures of the previous era like Chema Alonso are on the tightrope. So much Adslzone First as The economist Then, each with their respective sources, have anticipated their imminent departure from Telefónica. The European telecommunications industry carries years suffering a paralyzing contradiction. You need scale to compete globally, but it’s subject to fragmented national regulations that prevent great mergers. If Murtra and Gayo achieve their goal, we could be before the first phase of an important reconfiguration of the sector. Telefónica seeks to position itself as a central piece of that puzzle, as The nucleus of a hypothetical European champion Able to stand up to the American and Chinese giants. In business jargon, a “European champion “ It is a company with the scale, influence and technological capacity to lead its sector in Europe and compete globally against US and Chinese giants. Internal changes are just the prelude. The truth game will be played in Brussels, where Teresa Ribera, a new competition curator, will have a lot to say about the future of mergers in the sector. It is no accident that Murtra has decided to make European consolidation its flag precisely now. The new Murtra-Gayo duo should not only manage a telecommunications company. Has to Lead a reconfiguration of an entire sector to compete in a global market dominated by large technology companies with the threat of telecos from both sides of the Pacific. The challenge is immense. And the pieces have only begun to move. In Xataka | Telecos counteratacan: Telefónica’s plan to convert their networks into platforms against large technological ones Outstanding image | Telefónica, Xataka

Marc Murtra launches an ultimatum to the EU in his debut as president of Telefónica

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Marc Murtra has been clear and direct in his first major public appearance as executive president of Telefónica. Just a month after Take the reins of the Spanish operator And a few days since its first presentation of financial results, the Catalan engineer has taken advantage of the opening session of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to launch a resounding message to the European authorities: it is time for the old continent to change its rules to allow the consolidation of the telecommunications sector. This inaugural speech is not any intervention. All the eyes of the telecommunications sector are put in Murtra, an executive who arrives in Telefónica with the explicit mandate of transforming it into a critical moment for the industry and for herself. Your choice of message in this first MWC As president is A strategic statement of intentions marked by the company’s new road map and shows their priorities for European regulators. We are facing the first public movement of a new chess game. The idea comes from very far. Telefónica stand at the MWC 2025. Image: Xataka. “It is time for the large European telecommunications companies to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity,” Murtra said in a speech that marks a clearly different tone from his predecessor, José María Álvarez-Pallete. Where the previous president cultivated a media profile focused on digital transformation and collaboration, Murtra has opted for structural forcefulness: Europe needs giants in telecommunications capable of competing with American and Asian giants. The message is not accidental. Murtra arrives at the presidency with the support of the three major shareholders of Telefónica (SEPI, Criteriacaixa and STC) and with the mission of repositioning the teleco after Years of stock market stagnation. Its diagnosis is devastating: “We must be aware that the excessive fragmentation of European TMT, excess regulation and insufficient profitability of the sector have weighed to Europe, which has been technologically lagging behind.” This position reflects a strategic reading of the global scenario. Murtra draws a technological power map dominated by “titanic technology companies” that work “as dominant actors in almost monopolistic markets” and that “have their headquarters in the United States and China.” Its conclusion is clear: Europe is being left out for its own regulatory restrictions. Murtra’s speech connects with the current context of the sector. European operators carry years claiming a regulatory change that allows national mergers to gain efficiency and investment capacity. His argument is that Each European country has too many operators competingwhich erodes margins and limits the ability to invest in advanced networks. Meanwhile, giants like AT&T O Verizon in the US, or the big Chinese operators, enjoy much more advantageous positions in their domestic markets. Mutra during his speech. Image: Xataka. “Europe’s position in the world will continue to diminish and will not have the capacity to decide its future autonomously,” Murtra warned, raising the debate From the merely business to the geopolitical. The tone seeks to connect with the concerns that Brussels now have about European technological sovereignty. Murtra’s presence in the MWC goes far beyond this message. Telefónica has deployed an imposing 960 square meters where it shows its advances in Quantum computingdigital security and drones connected by 5g. Under the motto “Leading Change, Inspiring Progress“, The operator is intending to exhibit a vision that combines toe technology with a humanistic approach, focused on social impact. However, It is the message about consolidation that marks the pattern of the new course of Telefónica. He discreet engineer He has shown that his strategy does not go through shyness, but by forcefulness. Murtra will not only administer the inherited, but it seems willing to push a structural transformation of the sector. Another issue is how far it is capable of arriving. Time will say if this commitment to concentration finds an answer in Brussels, where The European Commission has accustomed us to suspicion compared to mergers that reduce the number of operators in national markets. But Murtra has made it clear that the battle for the future of European telecommunications has just begun. And in that game, Telefónica wants to play a leading role. In Xataka | Pallete’s impossible equation: he reduced Telefónica’s debt in half … while its stock value collapsed Outstanding image | Xataka

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