Edir Macedo (born February 18, 1945) is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG). He is the owner and chairman of the third-largest television network in Brazil, RecordTV, along with Grupo Record since 1989, which he founded after he bought the network. Early life Edir Macedo was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1945 (one of seven surviving children). Macedo's website stated that he has degrees in theology from the Evangelical School of Theology "United Seminar", and the Faculty of Theological Education in the state of São Paulo (Fatebom); a doctorate in theology, Christian philosophy, an honorary degree in Divinity, a Master's degree in Theological Science received through the Federación Evangélica Española de Entidades Religiosas (F.E.E.D.E.R) in Madrid, Spain. The reference to FEEDER may be an error; it is cited with a question mark in the biography, and there is an organisation called Federación de Entidades Religiosas Evangélicas de España (FEREDE). FEEDER appears only to be referenced in association with Macedo. The FEREDE in 2021 refused membership to the Comunidad Cristiana del Espíritu Santo, also known as Familia Unida or "Christian Help Centre", associated with the UCKG. Career In 1963 he began a career as a civil servant, initially working with the state-run lottery of Rio de Janeiro, Loterj, and also at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, as a researcher in the economic census of 1970. Macedo was raised Catholic, but by 1965 converted to Pentecostalism, after an invitation from his sister to Igreja Cristã de Nova Vida. In 1975, Macedo founded a Pentecostal church with Romildo Ribeiro Soares, Cruzada do Caminho Eterno. After an argument, the two separated. In 1977, Macedo founded with others the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. In 1989 he bought the free-to-air commercial television network RecordTV and in the same year he founded Grupo Record. In 2007 he founded the 24-hour free-to-air news channel Record News. His rapidly growing religious movement and his teaching of prosperity theology have been a source of controversy. His sermons partly focus on freeing his followers from unclean spirits that oppress them, which manifest in them, and are cast out in the name of Jesus, for them to overcome their problems. His views about other faiths, particularly Catholicism, are also controversial. In 1992 he spent eleven