Silvio Berlusconi in intensive care in Milan hospital

Media mogul and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Milan on Wednesday and is in a serious but stable condition, according to local media.

Corriere della Sera reports that the 86-year-old founder of Forza Italia is being treated at San Raffaele Hospital for pneumonia caused by a form of leukemia; It has not yet been publicly confirmed by doctors, but Reuters also reported the diagnosis, citing a source. No medical bulletins were issued yesterday and it is still unclear if there will be today. According to Forza Italia boss Paolo Barelli, Berlusconi spent “a quiet night” on Wednesday.

Berlusconi was in San Raffaele for several days last week to undergo routine tests. In a Facebook post after his dismissal, he said he was “already back to work on the most important issues of the day, ready and determined to commit as always to the country I love”.

The billionaire tycoon has recently had a spate of health issues, including a bad bout of Covid that landed him in the hospital in 2020.

A controversial figure in Italy, Berlusconi is the majority shareholder of Mediaset, which runs TV stations, radio and a film studio and was previously owned by soccer club AC Milan. He was prime minister for nine years and was found guilty of tax fraud in 2013.

In February this year, an Italian court acquitted him of paying witnesses who lied in a case of underage prostitution that has been ongoing for more than a decade.

Forza Italia is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition. She posted one News to social media with a “sincere and loving wish for a speedy recovery to Silvio Berlusconi… Come on Silvio.”

Reuters reported Berlusconi’s Fininvest family holding company, which retains control of Mediaset’s parent company MediaForEurope, saw its shares rise on Wednesday amid speculation about possible mergers and acquisitions in a post-Berlusconi era.