Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi left the future of his business empire well tied up. As was suspected, the tycoon wanted his two eldest children, Marina and Pier Silvio, who had been involved in his business for the longest time, to have control of the Fininvest holding company, the conglomerate that brings together all the family companies, starting with Mediaset, the jewel in the crown.
According to the will, revealed by the Italian news agency ANSA, Marina and Pier Silvio, the two children from his first marriage to Carla Elvira dall’Oglio, will jointly hold 53% of Fininvest’s shares, a decision that the former prime minister made in in 2006. The rest will be distributed among his other three descendants, Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi, the result of his second marriage to Veronica Lario.
The choice to favor Marina and Pier Silvio was natural since the eldest daughter, 56, has been in charge of the business conglomerate for years and was the right eye of her father, who considered her the financial brain of the family. For her part, Pier Silvio, her brother, 54, is in command of the Mediaset television group as CEO, the flagship of Fininvest. Berlusconi’s five children had previously stated in a statement that “no shareholder will exercise global individual indirect control of Fininvest, previously exercised by his father.”
In addition, Berlusconi has left 100 million euros in inheritance to his last partner, Marta Fascina, the young deputy whom he was over 50 years old with and with whom he starred in a notorious fictitious wedding. Contrary to what had been speculated, he will not receive shares in his companies. The same amount of 100 million euros will go to his brother, Paolo, while Marcello dell’Utri, one of his closest collaborators, will receive 30 million euros. “For the good that I have loved them and for what they have loved me,” the magnate wrote in a later document. “Thank you, so much love to all of you. Your father, Silvio”, he said goodbye.
Until his death, Berlusconi owned 61.21% of the shares of Fininvest – which in turn owned 50% of MFE – while his first two children each had 7.65% of the business holding. The other three descendants of his second marriage owned 21.42% of Fininvest between them. In addition to Mediaset, Fininivest also controls 30% of the Mediolanum bank, the leading Italian publisher Mondadori (53.3%) or the Monza soccer club, the latest Cavaliere toy and the only one of its businesses with losses. The loot is of great importance since the tycoon was the third fortune in Italy, with assets valued by Forbes at 6.4 billion euros.
