by Jesus Barrena 
Richard Rodrigo founder of the RBA group, he was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1947. He studied at the Faculty of Law and began his political militancy. He began with small collaborations with Carlos Barral, joining Editorial Bruguera as a style editor. Little by little he assumes more responsibility and is appointed Editorial Director in 1977.
Founder of the RBA Group
The publishing house was founded together with Carmen Ballcells in 1981. It was the first of its kind in Spain, developing different publishing projects in Spain and South America. Among his most outstanding initiatives we have the Encyclopedia of Mexico (unfinished due to the crisis that the country suffered in 1982) and the History of Universal Literature, directed by José María Valverde and which included such important collaborators as Camilo José Cela, Juan Marsé, Eduardo Mendoza and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán among others.
In 1984 Rodrigo joined Planeta De Agostini as CEO. In 1991 he makes the decision to start his business activity.
RBA begins its publishing activities with various dissemination collections in video format for sale in newsstands (Cousteau, National Geographic). The success does not go unnoticed for the Bertelsmann group that partners with RBA to launch the publishing house in countries such as France, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.
RBA is currently the first Spanish publisher of magazines, highlighting Lecturas, Semana, Saber Vivir, National Geographic and El Mueble.
RBA Building
The new corporate building of the RBA publishing group is in Barcelona. Its design is due to prestigious architects such as Oriol Bohigas, Oriol Capdevila, Francesc Gual, David Mackay and Josep Martorell (MBM Arquitectes). It has two differentiated bodies and united by a large terrace with a garden. It also has an auditorium of 2000 m2. Its 19000 m2 are distributed over 17 floors above ground and with 4 floors in the basement.
Dry and prefabricated materials have been used in the construction, adopting several energy saving measures. It is characterized by the luminosity and serenity that the white color that predominates in the furniture gives it.
Undoubtedly a great building for a great publishing group such as RBA.
