Since the day of foundation, this company’s main business was the publishing of the Moldovan edition of the Russian-language newspaper Аргументы и Факты (Arguments & Facts). In late 2015 the company changed ownership: Socialist parliamentarian Corneliu Furculita took over full control of it. Shortly afterward, Exclusiv Media SRL obtained a license for the television station NTV Moldova, which uses the same trademark as the Gazprom-controlled television channel NTV in Russia.
RISE Moldova has revealed in its investigation „Banii lui Dodon din Bahamas” (Dodon’s money from Bahamas) that several months ahead of the 2016 presidential elections - which Socialist Igor Dodon won - Exclusiv Media SRL received 20 million lei from a Bahamas firm, and a part of this money was poured into the Socialists Party via sponsors.
In January 2017 Exclusiv Media SRL launched a new TV station - Exclusiv TV - which rebroadcast mainly the programs of the Russian entertainment channel THT (TNT).
In the first half of 2018, six Exclusiv Media employees donated a total of 85,500 lei to the Socialists Party. Among them was Petru Burduja, the company’s administrator at that time, and Veaceslav Anghel, a co-founder of the company and a Socialist candidate at the February 2019 parliamentary elections in Straseni town.
In 2018 Exclusiv Media was caught in a media advertising scandal following a complaint filed by a number of television companies (Pro TV Chisinau, RTR Moldova, TV 8, and Jurnal TV) with the Competition Council. They accused Exclusiv Sales House SRL - which is a 100% property of Exclusiv Media - of cartel agreement with Casa Media Corp SRL - an advertising firm affiliated to oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. Exclusiv Sales House holds a monopoly on ads trading for NTV Moldova, Exclusiv TV, and Accent TV while Casa Media Corp manages the ads for Prime, Publika TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, CTC Moldova, Familia Domashniy, N4, Noroc TV, REN Moldova, and Vocea Basarabiei. After two years of deliberations, the Competition Council ruled that Casa Media Corp “has created competitional disadvantages for certain television stations and ad suppliers, and fined it, but left Exclusiv Media out of consideration.
In 2015, when Mr. Furculita took over Exclusiv Media, it reported to the National Statistical Bureau a staff of 15 employees and a loss of half a million lei. In 2019 though, the company said the number of employees stood at 93 and the balance showed more than 19 million lei in profit.
