Counting the assets of Silvio Berlusconi and his family is the catchphrase of this Easter, since it seems that there are already reasons for disagreement among the heirs. Nothing surprising given that the empire touches television, publishing, football, finance, not to mention real estate. Among the sectors in which the Berlusconi family has “hands-on” innovation could not be missing. His companies have invested in quite a few startups in Italy and beyond. The choice of investments was shrewd, given that Berlusconi’s shareholdings include several unicorns.
The analysis
One month later (and one election later): How did politicians fare on TikTok?
by Emanuele Capone, Francesco Marino
Il fintech seems to be one of the areas of greatest interest. According to the latest available financial statements, relating to 2021, Fininvest’s properties also included two stakes that appear to be financial investments in two Italian fintech companies. The first is a share of the 6.8% of Moneya company specializing in the management of expense reports and company payments, the second is the 2% Satispaythe unicorn who developed an app for fast payments.
Mediaset, on the other hand, has stakes in several international startups, mostly Spanish. Between these Colvinhome flower delivery startup, 21Buttonsfashion social network that allows influencers to insert links on the clothes they wear in their photographs, e-commerce of sports products Deportvillage e ByHours a micro-stay booking platform.
Mediaset’s investment strategy also reveals a constant interest in the new media sector. It acquired shares in the US digital media company Studio71 and the German media platform ProSiebenSat.1. The trend is demonstrated by various investments and acquisitions since the early 2000s: in 2016 Mondadori, the publishing house of the Berlusconi family, acquired the Media division of Banzai, a company led by Paolo Ainio and Pietro Scott Jovane, for 45 million euros, covering its financial debt. In this way Mondadori has fully entered the Olympus ofdigital publishing and still manages projects such as Giallozafferano and Mypersonaltrainer. In 2021, then, the Mondadori group announced the acquisition of Hello!a company founded in 2017 and active in the tech advertising segment.
Finally there are the investments of the family office, H14 (Holding Italiana Quattordicesima) which is headed with equal shares by Luigi Berlusconi and the sisters Barbara and Eleonora and which last July was divided into two with the aim of isolating the investment in Fininvest from those in digital companies, fintechs, startups and shares in private equity funds.
H14 has invested, among others, in Bending Spoonsfra i primi iOS app developer d’Europa, senndera German startup that deals with logistics and in several successful startups in Berlin: the neo-broker Trade Republicthe travel portal GetYourGuide and the insurtech WeFox.
Social elections/13
How much and how Silvio Berlusconi is talked about online
by Pierluca Santoro
