Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul and former Italian prime minister who transformed the nation’s politics with polarising policies and often alarmed his allies with his brazen remarks, died on Monday aged 86. Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving premier who counted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a close friend and gained notoriety for his “bunga bunga” sex parties, had suffered from leukaemia and recently developed a lung infection. He served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011.
He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2013; a member of the Senate of the Republic from 2022 to 2023, and previously from March to November 2013; and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 1999 to 2001. With a net worth of US$6.9 billion as of June 2023, Berlusconi was the third-wealthiest person in Italy. He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club A.C. Milan from 1986 to 2017. On 20 February 1986, Berlusconi (who owns Fininvest and Mediaset) acquired the club and saved it from bankruptcy after investing vast amounts of money, appointing rising manager Arrigo Sacchi at the helm of the Rossoneri and signing Dutch internationals Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.
The Dutch trio added an attacking impetus to the team, and complemented the club’s Italian internationals Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Roberto Donadoni. Milan won its first Scudetto in nine years in the 1987–88 season. The following year, the club won its first European Cup in two decades, beating Romanian club Steaua Bucure?ti 4–0 in the final. Milan retained their title with a 1–0 win over Benfica a year later and was the last team to win back-to-back European Cups until Real Madrid’s win in 2017. The Milan team of 1988–1990, nicknamed the “Immortals” in the Italian media, has been voted the best club side of all time in a global poll of experts conducted by World Soccer magazine.
Berlusconi was Prime Minister for nine years in total, making him the longest serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and the third longest-serving since Italian unification, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti. He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, and its successor party The People of Freedom from 2009 to 2013. He led the revived Forza Italia from 2013 to 2023.[11] Berlusconi was the senior G8 leader from 2009 until 2011, and he held the record for hosting G8 summits (having hosted three summits in Italy). After serving nearly 19 years as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the country’s lower house, he became a member of the Senate following the 2013 Italian general election.
On 1 August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the Supreme Court of Cassation. His four-year prison sentence was confirmed, and he was banned from holding public office for two years. Aged 76, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid community service. After his ban ended, Berlusconi ran for and was elected as an MEP at the 2019 European Parliament election. Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old Fascina, whom he called his wife despite not marrying her, two ex-spouses, five children, more than a dozen grandchildren and one great grandson.