Berlusconi Companies Mediaset, Mondadori Slide on Premier's Political Woes

Source: Bloomberg

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s political woes are hitting his companies, Mediaset SpA and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, hard.

Broadcaster Mediaset, 38 percent owned by Berlusconi’s Fininvest holding company, has dropped 15 percent since Nov. 10, wiping about 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) from its market value. Mondadori, Italy’s largest book and magazine publisher, has slipped 6.6 percent. Fininvest owns half of the publisher of news magazine “Panorama.”

“The companies linked to the premier feel more than others the impact of the political situation,” said Emanuele Vizzini, who helps manage about $1 billion at Investitori SGR in Milan. He owns Mediaset and Mediolanum SpA shares. Mediolanum, the financial-services company partly owned by Berlusconi, has fallen 4 percent to 3.39 euros since Nov. 10.

Four members of former Berlusconi ally Gianfranco Fini’s Future and Liberty for Italy party quit on Nov. 15, seeking to bring down the government and possibly trigger early elections. Fini called for the premier’s resignation after media reports that Berlusconi helped secure the release from police custody of a 17-year-old nightclub dancer. The rupture with Fini, who co- founded the premier’s People of Liberty party, comes as parliament prepares to vote on the 2011 budget.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-16/berlusconi-companies-mediaset-mondadori-slide-on-premier-s-political-woes.html

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18 November 2010 Last updated at 17:01
Italian PM 'enhances' ancient Roman statuesBy David Willey
BBC News, Rome

Italy's prime minister is under attack for authorising what amounts to plastic surgery on two Roman marble statues.

The statues, which depict the naked gods Venus and Mars, are on show in Silvio Berlusconi's Rome residence.

Mr Berlusconi ordered a replacement for the missing penis on the statue of the ancient god of war, and a missing hand for Venus.

Art experts say it is tasteless and aesthetically wrong to replace the missing body parts.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11790744