Richest man

Chapter 6 Europe: Silvio Berlusconi (2)
At the end of the 20s, the national monopoly of the Italian radio and television industry was broken. Berlusconi founded Italy's first national private TV station - "Channel 70", and later he bought two other TV stations - " Italia 1000" and "Fourth Television Network".At that time, there were more than 80 TV stations in Italy, but in the mid-90s, many private TV stations went bankrupt due to brutal competition, but Berlusconi gained a reputation in the Italian TV industry with his outstanding business experience. The television ratings are very high, even on par with Italian national television.Since then, Berlusconi has continued to increase his stake in the state-owned TV network company.By the end of the 90s, Berlusconi had controlled [-]% of the domestic TV market in Italy, and achieved the goal of controlling the RAI national TV station through increasing equity.In addition, he also actively explored the international market and successively established his own TV stations in France, Germany and Spain.

Long-sleeved and good at dancing, becoming a media giant and the richest man in Italy

At the same time as his foray into broadcast television, Berlusconi has also been hastening his forays into other, more lucrative industries.He successively acquired some newspapers, weekly magazines and large publishing groups, establishing his dominance in the Italian media field.He controlled "Today" in the 20s, bought the weekly magazine "Smile and TV Music" with the largest circulation in Italy in the 70s, entered the Mondadori Publishing Group in 80, and made it the largest book in Italy publishing group.He owns the best-selling Time, Panorama, and other periodicals, and has Telecom Italia under his control.

到1986年，贝卢斯科尼旗下的电视台已经占据了全国商业电视80%的市场份额。1990年，他旗下的书刊出版集团又占据了意大利30%的图书市场份额，同时出版的50多种杂志占有意大利38%的杂志市场份额。

A huge media kingdom has emerged.

In recent years, facing the Internet boom and the rise of new media, Berlusconi has established Mediaset on line (MOL) and Newmedia to provide online content services.He also launched an interactive television business.Although the strength of MOL cannot be compared with Internet giants such as America Online, its development in Europe is quite remarkable.

As early as 2001, a financial company in Milan disclosed that Berlusconi's actual assets at that time had reached 110 billion euros.He controls 150 companies, including Italian investment banks and insurance companies, which bring him an annual turnover of 40 billion to 50 billion euros.

Berlusconi included all the companies he controlled in his core enterprise, the Feiningwest Consortium, making the family-owned consortium the second largest private group in Italy after the Fiat Group.

Since [-], Berlusconi has been firmly seated as the chief of the Italian tycoons.In [-] years, he has successfully completed a series of economic expansion from scratch, from small to large, and he himself has jumped from a child born in a middle-class family to a world-class rich man.

He is also the owner of AC Milan
In Europe, it is no news that industrial and commercial giants are in charge of football clubs.The owner of the French Marseille team is the French media tycoon Tapie, the backstage of the Italian Juventus team is the Agnelli family of the Fiat Group, the owner of the News Corporation Rupert Murdoch owns the British Manchester United, the newly appointed richest man in the UK and the former No. [-] rich man in Russia Abramovich Ramovich was included in the Premier League powerhouse Chelsea.And in Italy, since this country has already had three world championship honors, Italians have a special feeling for football.Like all Italians, Berlusconi also likes football, and he will not turn a blind eye to the economic benefits of football.With the unique vision of a businessman, he successfully entered the Italian football industry.

In 1986, when the AC Milan club was on the verge of bankruptcy, Silvio Berlusconi bought the team at a low price and became the chairman of the club.Relying on his wealth and wealth, he paid a lot of money to hire the gold medal coach Saki, and spent a lot of money to recruit Gullit, Basten, Rijkaard and many other stars who are known as the "Three Musketeers of the Netherlands".With the support of Berlusconi, AC Milan rose rapidly and swept the European football world. It won three European Champions Cups and four league championships. In the 20s, it created a glorious "AC Milan Era" in European football.

Berlusconi entered the sports industry, one of the pillar industries in Italy, in one fell swoop through the AC Milan club.He used AC Milan's advertising, star transfers, souvenir sales and other income to obtain huge profits.Not only that, but relying on AC Milan's excellent record, he has greatly improved his popularity and support in Italy.With his strong financial resources, a powerful media empire and the support of AC Milan fan clubs all over the country, he successfully entered the political arena and ascended the throne of Italian Prime Minister twice.

Berlusconi's business experience Don't let the opportunity slip through your fingers when it comes

Berlusconi started from scratch, from an ordinary student to the richest man in Italy, what did he rely on

This question seems a bit ridiculous to Berlusconi, because for him, this is an extremely simple question, and many people understand this truth very well, that is, to seize the opportunity.

In the 20s, at the time of the great development stage of the rise of the Italian domestic economy, all walks of life were vigorously developing and developing.Berlusconi is keenly aware of the business opportunities contained in this. He believes that the start of the economy will definitely lead to an increase in demand for real estate. This is a golden opportunity.Therefore, he decisively devoted himself to the real estate industry.He borrowed money to buy land and build apartments in the suburbs of Milan, thus earning his first pot of gold in his life.

And when his career has achieved something, he did not stop there, but kept exploring better opportunities and grasping new high-profit industries. From this, he discovered the media, a relatively monopolistic emerging industry, and took it as a new industry. Main industries developed by themselves.Through a series of operations, in the end, Berlusconi completed his media empire plan and became a member of the Italian bourgeoisie.

Since then, Berlusconi has discovered the huge wealth and profit margins contained in football.Therefore, when AC Milan was on the verge of bankruptcy, he bought it at a very low price and transformed it, including inviting gold medal coach Sacchi and introducing a large number of outstanding players such as the "Three Musketeers of the Netherlands", thus creating a A generation of "Dynasty of Milan".According to data, when Berlusconi first bought the AC Milan club, he only spent tens of millions of dollars, but now AC Milan can bring him a huge income of more than 2000 billion lire every year-AC Milan has already become a club. One of Berlusconi's fastest money-making machines.

learn from murdoch
In the history of world media, Rupert Murdoch is a legendary figure. Since he came into contact with news at the age of 22, in the past 50 years, this "media magnate" has continuously acquired more newspapers, more The TV station has created the largest and most international comprehensive media company in the world today.With a net worth of more than $400 billion, the core businesses of the group include the production and distribution of films and television programs, over-the-air, satellite and cable television broadcasting, newspaper, magazine and book publishing, as well as digital broadcasting, encryption and viewing management systems develop.

Berlusconi has striking similarities with Murdoch in the operation and management strategies of media companies. The only difference is that Murdoch operates globally, while Berlusconi focuses more on Italy. .

There are so many similarities between Murdoch and Berlusconi that it would be more accurate to describe them as "heroes see the same thing".These two world media leaders both discovered the huge benefits of the media, so they devoted their entire lives to it; and when they discovered the high profits behind football, they both bought football clubs one after another. ——Murdoch is the owner of the famous British Manchester United team, while Berlusconi is the owner of the Italian AC Milan team.

Although Berlusconi entered the football industry before Murdoch, he is a pioneer in the sports industry, but in other aspects, Berlusconi is more learning from Murdoch.

Among Berlusconi's Fenningwest Group, the success of Maddie Arthur Media is the brightest.The road of continuous mergers adopted by Maddie Arthur is to imitate the mode of operation of the world media tycoon Murdoch.After achieving success in China, Madison actively explored the international market, and successively established television stations belonging to Madison in France, Germany and Spain.

To this end, Murdoch became Berlusconi's best friend.Berlusconi allowed Murdoch to hold shares in Italian pay TV and Italian satellite TV; Murdoch helped Berlusconi develop the international TV market.This practice of holding each other and helping each other has greatly accelerated the pace of expansion of Maddie Arthur.Berlusconi used Murdoch's method to completely control the TV advertising revenue rights and sports news broadcast rights in Italy.Recently, the Italian Sky Satellite TV Company, which was founded by Madison Media Company with an investment of 7000 million euros, started broadcasting in July 2003.These successes are inseparable from Murdoch's help.

who can stop him
Many magazines and newspapers have summarized Berlusconi as follows:

Berlusconi, a successful businessman, a failed prime minister.

Indeed, his achievements in commercial wealth are unmatched in Italy.Although he is now facing multiple charges of tax evasion, money laundering, colluding with the Mafia and bribery, people have also noticed that none of the accusations that have been filed over the years have been convicted, which has somewhat consolidated Berlusconi Authoritative position in the domestic financial circles.

At the same time, Berlusconi's reckless drive to achieve his goals and his outspokenness often endear him to others, including Italy's President Ciampi.

Once, a proposal of the "New Media Law" submitted by Berlusconi was deliberated in Italy. From all aspects, the implementation of the new bill will greatly benefit the Fenningwest Group controlled by Berlusconi in the Italian media field. Therefore, Berlusconi can seek greater wealth and interests, and because of this, the introduction of the bill has aroused great controversy in the country.Finally, when the bill was submitted to President Ciampi for his signature, the President did not buy it either. He said that this new law may conflict with judicial decisions and may create a media monopoly, "bringing Berlusconi's control of the media to an unmanageable level." accepted by the people” and thus refused to sign.Such an open confrontation with the ruling government is rare for an Italian president in the role of nominal head of state.

Internationally, Berlusconi is under even greater pressure. On July 2003, 7, the second day after Berlusconi took over the rotating presidency of the European Union, at a regular inquiry meeting of the European Parliament, Berlusconi made insulting remarks to a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and even compared him to a Nazi concentration camp. Commander, thus triggering a political crisis between Italy and many countries in Europe.

But the eloquent Berlusconi is also a stubborn Berlusconi. For the international condemnation, he refused to apologize from the beginning to the end; for the president's "losing face", he cleverly used legal weapons to get the president to finally sign the decree. .

And even Berlusconi's enemies have to admire the indomitable drive in his character.Giorgio Armani, the founder of the internationally renowned brand Armani, once advertised that he "never talks about politics", but he publicly expressed his appreciation for Berlusconi: "What attracts me most about Berlusconi is his adventurous spirit that is never afraid of making mistakes. He is like a perpetual motion machine, always moving forward. It is because of this that he can create amazing wealth in so many fields. This is also the philosophy of life I believe in."

We all have our ups and downs in our lives, but the hard times always pass.

(End of this chapter)