Orban ally offers to hand media empire to Hungary after election

One of Hungary’s most powerful media executives offered to hand his business to the state for free, the latest sign of the shift among some of the country’s richest following Mr Viktor Orban‘s landslide election defeat.

Mr Gyula Balasy, whose companies received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of government advertisement contracts over the years, presented in an online interview what he said was a notarised statement giving up ownership in the firms he said were valued at about 80 billion forint (S$328.7 million).

Incoming Hungarian leader Peter Magyar, who will be sworn in on May 9, campaigned on a pledge to stamp out the cronyism that characterised Mr Orban’s 16-year stewardship of Hungary’s economy and to restore European Union funding frozen over corruption concerns. Mr Magyar has promised to audit companies linked to the previous administration and recover pilfered public assets.

Mr Balasy, who was known for his jet-setting lifestyle, appeared emotional as he said his company’s bank accounts had been frozen after the election. He said he had committed no wrongdoing and said he wanted to ensure the welfare of his employees by giving up ownership in his companies as well as associated private-equity fund investments.

He also ruled out moving abroad, as some businessmen had done before the election, including Mr Istvan Tiborcz, Mr Orban’s son-in-law.

“I was born in this country, I’ve lived here, my family is here,” Mr Balasy told Kontroll.hu, an online outlet owned by Mr Magyar’s younger brother, Mr Marton. “There’s no reason for me to go anywhere else.”

Mr Balasy became one of Hungary’s richest after his companies secured close to 300 billion forint in state contracts over the years, often by being the sole bidder in the government’s communications procurement framework. 

He oversaw Mr Orban’s billboard campaigns, which depicted Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist George Soros as a sinister mastermind conspiring to topple his government, and framed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a warmonger seeking to drag Hungary into a war with Russia.

The EU has suspended more than US$20 billion (S$25.5 billion) of its funding for Hungary, citing graft including problems with how public procurements were conducted. Mr Magyar has vowed to move quickly to unblock the money by investigating corruption and removing Mr Orban loyalists from power, including the chief prosecutor and top justices.

Hungary is tied with Bulgaria for the most corrupt in the European Union, according to Transparency International. The graft watchdog has cited Mr Orban’s rule as an example of state capture, when corruption is fuelled from the top-down, with perpetrators shielded from prosecution.

Mr Magyar, a former Orban party insider turned critic, appeared unmoved by what he called a “teary-eyed” interview from Mr Balasy, whom he described in a social media post on May 5 as a front for the premier’s powerful secret services and communications chief, Mr Antal Rogan. 

Mr Magyar repeated his words from two years ago, when he predicted that Mr Orban’s crony system would “collapse faster than many people think”, in part due to a rush for plea bargains to limit potential jail time for those who were once thought untouchable.

The ripples from Hungary’s political earthquake are already coursing through Hungary’s business elite. Mr Lorinc Meszaros, a close friend of Mr Orban’s who became one of the country’s richest man until his conglomerate Opus Nyrt. lost almost half its value in 2026 in the wake of election, reached out to Mr Magyar in a letter to ease tensions, only to have the incoming premier rebuff him.

For his part, Mr Balasy expressed distress and uncertainty about his future, saying he may need to turn to farming now.

Asked whether he would have offered to give away his businesses had Mr Orban’s party remained in power, Mr Balasy replied: “I don’t know.” BLOOMBERG