Italy’s former showman PM Silvio Berlusconi dies at 86

Berlusconi had a recent history of health issues and had been diagnosed with a rare type of leukemia.

He was admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital on Friday, less than a month after a previous lengthy stay there.

Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister three times and served for a total of nine years in four governments between 1994 and 2011.

The flamboyant billionaire and former richest man of Italy once described himself as the “Jesus Christ of politics”.

Berlusconi enjoyed his first real success in property development in the late 1960s when he was involved in a 4,000 flat project outside Milan.

After amassing a fortune from his property portfolio in the 1970s, he diversified his interests by setting up TV cable company Telemilano.

In an effort to break the national TV monopoly in the country, he bought two other cable channels.

In 1978, these channels were incorporated into his newly formed Fininvest group, which included department stores, insurance companies and even football club AC Milan.

Berlusconi turned his attention to politics in 1993 when he formed the center-right Forza Italia Party.

As of this year, Berlusconi was worth $7.56 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

It was often his private life – his fondness for surrounding himself with young women, and the ensuing scandals – that made global headlines.

Nine years after he was banned from public office for tax fraud, he was back in parliament, elected to Italy’s Senate before he turned 86 in September 2022.

Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old girlfriend, Marta Fascina, two ex-wives and five children, some of whom help run his empire.