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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Death of Berlusconi turns spotlight on to fortune he left behind

A giant screen showing a live broadcast of  Silvio Berlusconi's family inside the Duomo cathedral in Milan for the state funeral of Italy’s former prime minister
A giant screen showing a live broadcast of Silvio Berlusconi's family inside Milan’s Duomo cathedral for the state funeral of Italy’s former prime minister. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since the second world war, was a billionaire who had investments in everything from property and banking to the media and football. His death, at the age of 86, raises questions over the fate of an empire that was closely entwined with a political career that spanned almost three decades.

Berlusconi had an estimated fortune of $7.4bn (£5.8bn) as of April 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But he left no indication, at least not publicly, of who would take over his empire after his death.

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