Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has died, Italian media says

Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul who served as the premier of several Italian governments over nine years, has died at age 86, Italian media said Monday.

CNBC was not able to immediately verify the reports.

The tycoon suffered from several serious ailments, including Covid-19, which resulted in repeated hospitalizations beginning in September 2020.

Born Sept. 29, 1936, Berlusconi faced numerous scandals and trials over tax schemes and sexual escapades. He was once convicted, but later cleared, of charges of having sex with an underage nightclub dancer, Karima El-Mahroug, at one of his wild “bunga bunga” parties.  

Berlusconi was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster.
In June 2023, his fortune was estimated at around $7 billion. He also owned the Italian football club 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, where he had also served from 1999 to 2001. At a 2009 campaign rally during his last stint as premier, he was struck in the face by a mentally ill man wielding a statuette of the Milan cathedral. The bloody attack broke Berlusconi’s nose, cut his lip and knocked out two teeth.

His nine years as prime minister made him the third-longest head of government in Italy after fascist dictators Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti.

He had promised — but failed — to sell his assets in Mediaset when he was prime minister.

In 2013, Berlusconi was convicted on charges that he paid for sex with the 17-year-old El-Mahroug at one of his parties and was sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from public office for life. Two years later, Italy’s highest court ordered him acquitted. 

Berlusconi was married twice and had five children.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.