Before entering politics, Berlusconi made his name in Italy as a business tycoon and media mogul, at one point becoming the richest man in Italy.
Berlusconi enjoyed his first real success in property development in the late 1960s when he was involved in a project to build Milano Two — nearly 4,000 flats — outside Milan.
After amassing a fortune from his property portfolio in the 1970s, he diversified his interests by setting up a TV cable company, Telemilano, and buying two other cable channels in an effort to break the national TV monopoly in Italy.
In 1978, these channels were incorporated into his newly formed Fininvest group, which included department stores, insurance companies and even AC Milan — one of the world’s biggest football clubs, which he owned for 31 years.
Berlusconi turned his attention to politics in 1993 when he formed the center-right Forza Italia Party, named for “Forza, Italia!” (Go, Italy!), a chant heard at Italian national soccer team games.
As of this year, Berlusconi was worth $7.56 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
