Berlusconi rose into the financial elite of Italy in the late s. He was the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club AC Milan from to Berlusconi was prime minister for nine years in total, making him the longest serving post-war prime minister of Italy, and the third-longest-serving since Italian unification , after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti.
He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from to , and its successor party The People of Freedom from to He led the revived Forza Italia from to After serving nearly 19 years as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the country's lower house , he became a member of the Senate following the Italian general election. His four-year prison sentence was confirmed, and he was banned from holding public office for two years.
Aged 76, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid community service.
Berlusconi was known for his populist political style and brash personality. In his long tenure, he was often accused of being an authoritarian leader and a strongman. He was the owner of Italy's biggest publishing company, several newspapers and magazines, and one of the largest football clubs in Europe.
Supporters emphasised his leadership skills and charismatic power, his fiscal policy based on tax reduction, and his ability to maintain strong and close foreign relations with both the United States and Russia. Issues with the former include accusations of having mismanaged the state budget and of increasing the Italian government debt. The second criticism concerns his vigorous pursuit of his personal interests while in office, including benefitting from his own companies' growth due to policies promoted by his governments, having vast conflicts of interest due to ownership of a media empire, and being blackmailed as a leader because of his turbulent private life.
