Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi 29 September 1936 12 June 2023 was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three 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 until his death in 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 At the time of his death in 2023 he had a net worth of US68 billion according to Forbes making him the 352ndrichest man in the world and the thirdwealthiest person in Italy Berlusconi rose into the financial elite of Italy in the late 1960s He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017 He was nicknamed Il Cavaliere The Knight for his Order of Merit for Labour In 2009 Forbes ranked him 12th in the list of the Worlds Most Powerful People due to his domination of Italian politics throughout more than 15 years at the head of the centreright coalition He was the longest serving postwar prime minister of Italy and the thirdlongestserving since Italian unification after Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti He was the leader of the centreright 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 in 2013 On 1 August 2013 Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the Supreme Court of Cassation His fouryear 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 Three years of his sentence were automatically pardoned under Italian law because he had been sentenced to gross imprisonment for more than two years he was banned from holding legislative office for six years and expelled from the Senate Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban After his ban ended he returned to the Senate after winning a seat in the 2022 Italian general election then died the following year from complications of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and was given a state funeral Berlusconi was known for his populist political style and brash personality his views and rhetoric often referred to as Berlusconism have deeply reshaped the Italian political landscape In his long tenure he was often accused of being a a strongman At the height of his power Berlusconi was the richest person in Italy owned three of the main TV channels of the country and indirectly controlled the national broadcasting company RAI through his own government He was the owner of Italys biggest publishing company several newspapers and magazines and one of the main football clubs in Europe At the time of his death The Guardian wrote that Berlusconi gathered himself more power than was ever wielded by one individual in a Western democracy Berlusconi remained a controversial figure who divided public opinion and political analysts Description above from the Wikipedia article Silvio Berlusconi licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia