Carlo De Benedetti

Carlo De Benedetti
Carlo De Benedetti ; (Italian media mogul and business magnate);
Born	1934-11-14; Turin
Nationality	Italian
Member of	European Round Table of Industrialists

Biography

Carlo De Benedetti (born 14 November 1934; formerly written Debenedetti) is an Italian industrialist, engineer and publisher. He is both an Italian citizen and, from 2009, a naturalized Swiss citizen. He is the father of Bilderberg attendee Rodolfo De Benedetti. Carlo De Benedetti is chairman of the Rodolfo De Benedetti Foundation (Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti in Milan, which he founded in 1998 in memory of his father. It promotes research into economic policy decisions regarding the labor market and welfare systems in Europe. His brother is Italian Senator Franco Debenedetti.

For a brief period, from 4 May to 25 August 1976, he was appointed CEO of the mighty business empire and car manufacturer FIAT. In November 1976, De Benedetti acquired the CIR Group, thereby also obtaining control of the national newspaper La Repubblica and the newsmagazine L'Espresso. In 1978 he became CEO of the Italian manufacturer Olivetti, where he remained until his resignation in 1996.

In the 1980s, along with other leading business figures, he founded the European Round Table of Industrialists, of which he was vicepresident until 2004. In 1985 he became a member of the European Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange.

Carlo De Benedetti has often been identified with Italian centre left politics.He has a long-standing feud with Silvio Berlusconi, and his L'Espresso editorial group currently publishes the main centre-left-leaning Italian newspaper (La Repubblica) and newsmagazine (L'Espresso). According to Walter Veltroni, former leader of the Partito Democratico, De Benedetti played a "very important role" in the evolution of the Italian left and the founding of his party.

Scandals

Tangentopoli In 1993, during the Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) political-corruption investigations, Carlo De Benedetti was arrested and admitted to having paid a 10 billion Italian lira bribe to government parties, to obtain a purchase order from the Italian Postal Service for obsolete teleprinters and computers. In May of that year, he was officially put under investigation, but De Benedetti never went to trial for this episode, the statute of limitations having expired.

The Banco Ambrosiano De Benedetti became deputy chairman of the Italian bank Banco Ambrosiano in 1981, by acquiring 2% of the capital, but left after only 61 days.In April 1992, Carlo De Benedetti and 32 other people were convicted of fraud by a Milan court in connection with the collapse of the bank. Benedetti was sentenced to six years and four months in prison, but the sentence was overturned in April 1998.