Silvio Berlusconi gestures earlier than a 2016 soccer match between his AC Milan and SS Lazio in Milan, Italy.
Marco Luzzani | Getty Photographs
Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul who served because the premier of a number of Italian governments over 9 years, has died at age 86, Italian media mentioned Monday.
CNBC was not capable of instantly confirm the reviews.
The tycoon suffered from a number of severe illnesses, together with Covid-19, which resulted in repeated hospitalizations starting in September 2020.
Born Sept. 29, 1936, Berlusconi confronted quite a few scandals and trials over tax schemes and sexual escapades. He was as soon as convicted, however later cleared, of fees of getting intercourse with an underage nightclub dancer, Karima El-Mahroug, at one in every of his wild “bunga bunga” events.
Berlusconi was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset, Italy’s largest industrial broadcaster.
In June 2023, his fortune was estimated at round $7 billion. He additionally owned the Italian soccer membership A.C. Milan from 1986 to 2017.
He led governments — from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011 — and since 2019 had served as a member of the European Parliament, the place he had additionally served from 1999 to 2001. At a 2009 marketing campaign rally throughout his final stint as premier, he was struck within the face by a mentally ailing man wielding a statuette of the Milan cathedral. The bloody assault broke Berlusconi’s nostril, minimize his lip and knocked out two enamel.
His 9 years as prime minister made him the third-longest head of presidency in Italy after fascist dictators Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti.
He had promised — however failed — to promote his property in Mediaset when he was prime minister.
In 2013, Berlusconi was convicted on fees that he paid for intercourse with the 17-year-old El-Mahroug at one in every of his events and was sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from public workplace for all times. Two years later, Italy’s highest court docket ordered him acquitted.
Berlusconi was married twice and had 5 kids.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.