El Mundo was first published on October 23, 1989, by Alfonso de Salas, Pedro J. Ramírez, Balbino Fraga and Juan González. El Mundo is the second largest newspaper in Spain, with a circulation of 310,000 copies daily (2005)
El Mundo has established itself as a mass circulation alternative to El Pais and ABC. With a right-wing political stand, the paper was a critic of the socialist government and a keen supporter of the Popular Party. But it later distanced itself from the PP after failing to obtain the PPs support in a battle for control of the digital TV sector. It is now perhaps the most independent of the big Madrid dailies.
Its base is in Madrid, but different editions are printed in different regions, for example Andalucia, Valencia, Castile and Leon, Balearic Islands, Bilbao.
El Mundo has scooped the other papers in uncovering several scandals. For example the embezzlement of the Guardia Civil commander, Luis Roldán: the governor of the Central Bank of Spain, Mariano Rubio, accused of insider trading and tax fraud: connections between the terrorist Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL) and the socialist administration of Felipe González: the Nazi Aribert Heim (aka "Doctor Death") had been living for 20 years in Spain.