Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire media mogul and former Italian PM dies aged 86

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman who created Italy's largest media company before transforming the political landscape, died on Monday aged 86.

According to international media reports, Belusconi had suffered several bouts of ill health in recent months.

He was hospitalised in 2020 after contracting COVID-19, describing it as “perhaps the most difficult ordeal of my life”.

In April 2023, doctors revealed he was in intensive care suffering from leukaemia and a lung infection.

He was admitted to a Milan hospital on Friday for what aides said were preplanned tests related to his leukaemia.

Berlusconi’s death leaves a “huge void” because he was a great man, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said on Twitter on Monday.

“I loved him very much. Farewell Silvio,” Crosetto wrote.

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party was a coalition partner with current premier Giorgia Meloni, a far-right leader who came to power last year, although he held no position in the government.