Andy Vajna

As Viktor Orbán's government film commissioner, Andy Vajna bought the debt-laden TV2 channel in late 2015 with the help of a multi-billion-forint loan from state-owned Eximbank; within two and a half years, with Árpád Habony's involvement, it became one of Fidesz's most important propaganda outlets. Despite receiving 5 billion forints a year in state advertising plus another 4 billion forints in cable carriage fees, the channel posted a 6-billion-forint loss in 2016 and a 2-billion-forint loss in 2017. According to 2019 reporting, Vajna had already sold the channel as early as 2016: a small company from Cinkota, Businesshelp Kft., paid 7.8 billion forints as an advance in 2016 to TV2's holding company MBC, a sum that had grown to nearly 20 billion forints by 2019 - while the real buyer never officially appeared as owner. The concealed change of ownership only came to light after Vajna's death in January 2019, when Lőrinc Mészáros officially took over TV2.