The highest financial stakes in Silvio Berlusconi’s divorce are over the inheritance of his business empire, and how it is split between the two children from his first marriage, and the three younger ones from his long second marriage. Mr Berlusconi’s wealth was estimated by Forbes at $6.5 billion (£4.3 billion) in March, putting him at No 70 in the rankings of the world’s billionaires. That represents his share of about 63 per cent in Fininvest, the family holding company (the rest is held by his children).

Fininvest’s two biggest assets are its shares in two quoted companies, the media group Mediaset and the Mediolanum Group, a banking and financial services outfit. Both have lost more than a quarter of their value in the current financial turmoil. Fininvest also has a stake in the publisher Mondadori and in AC Milan. Figures published in March on the earnings of Italian public officials show that Mr Berlusconi’s taxable earnings in 2007 totalled €14.5 million — a huge cut on the €139 million he declared in 2006. Despite that fall, his income was still more than three times that of the second-highest earner among MPs, Giulio Tremonti, the Economy Minister. Mr Berlusconi’s assets then included a villa in Antigua, three yachts and a Mercedes, according to the Italian press.

His two eldest children from his first marriage to Carla dall’Oglio, Marina, 42, and Pier Silvio, 40, are senior executives as well as shareholders in his businesses. Pier Silvio is deputy chairman of Mediaset and Marina is chairman of Mondadori and deputy chairman of Fininvest. They each hold about 7 per cent of the group.

His three children with Veronica — Barbara, 24, Eleonora, 22 and Luigi, 20 — each have an equal share of a 21.42 per cent stake in Fininvest. There is no question of a custody battle, but Mr Berlusconi will be obliged to maintain Veronica and her children in the life to which they have become accustomed. The Italian press has billed the coming battle as the “divorce with nine zeros”.

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