Marina and Pier Silvio Berlusconi will jointly control the family holding company Fininvest, majority owned by her father Silvio Berlusconi, who died in mid-June, a financial source told AFP after opening his will.
Born of the media mogul’s first marriage to Carla Dall’Oglio, Marina and Pier Silvio Berlusconi will together have a 53% stake in Fininvest, of which they each held 7.65% until now.
The other three children, Luigi, Eleonora and Barbara, from the second marriage to Veronica Lario, will jointly control the remaining 47%, added the financial source. Before they owned 21.42%.
A net worth of 4,500 million euros
The former prime minister, who died on June 12 at the age of 86 and whose fortune was valued by Forbes at 6.4 billion euros, controlled 61.21% of Fininvest.
“No one will have exclusive indirect control of Fininvest, which was previously exercised” Silvio Berlusconi, said the holding company in a press release, confirming that the contents of the will were communicated to the heirs on Wednesday.
The family holding controls a myriad of companies, including the MediaForEurope (formerly Mediaset) television group, headed by Pier Silvio Berlusconi, Mondadori publishing, chaired by Marina Berlusconi, and Mediolanum bank.
Marina Berlusconi, Fininvest’s president since 2005, was confirmed in her role at a shareholders’ meeting in late June, as was chief executive Danilo Pellegrino.
The board also approved the payment of 100 million euros in dividends to Fininvest shareholders this year, up from 150 million in 2022.
The net profit of the family holding fell 44% to 200.2 million euros last year while its turnover remained almost stable at 3.820 million euros.
100 million euros to his last partner
Net assets amounted to 4,550 million euros.
After the announcement of the death of Silvio Berlusconi, the stock of MediaForEurope shot up for several days on the Milan Stock Exchange, investors betting on a sale of the group or a merger.
Fininvest then cut the rumors by assuring that its “activities would continue in a line of absolute continuity in all aspects.”
“In the family we never talk about a sale of Mediaset,” said Pier Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday. Each of the brothers “does their job, but there is absolute cohesion,” he added.
In addition, the tycoon bequeathed 100 million euros to his last partner Marta Fascina, 33. He also leaves 100 million to his brother Paolo, as well as 30 million euros to his sulphurous friend and partner Marcello Dell’Utri, co-founder of Forza Italia.
Source: BFM TV
