12 November 2011 Last updated at 16:02 ET

Profile: Silvio Berlusconi, ex-Italian prime minister

Silvio Berlusconi has been a major player in Italian politics for 17 years

Silvio Berlusconi - who resigned on Saturday - was Italy's longest-serving post-war prime minister, and is still one of the country's richest men.

After three terms in office, Mr Berlusconi's final act as head of government was the submission of his resignation request to the president, which was duly accepted.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the presidential palace in Rome to witness the end of Mr Berlusconi's 17-year domination of Italian politics.

The 75-year-old and his family have built a fortune estimated at $9bn (£5.6bn) by US business magazine Forbes.

His business acumen - with an empire spanning media, advertising, insurance, food and construction - was sufficient evidence for many Italians of his ability to run their country too.

But since he took power again in 2008 the economy has come under increasing strain, dogged by slow growth and a national debt of 1.9tn euros (£1.7tn; $2.6tn).

His government was slow to implement austerity measures in response, and his private sex and other scandals have been seen as unwelcome distractions.

After surviving more than 50 votes of confidence, Mr Berlusconi's support drained away in 2011, as the country was buffeted by the eurozone debt crisis. On 8 November he lost his parliamentary majority and pledged to resign after an austerity package was voted in by lawmakers. Entrepreneur

Born on 29 September 1936, Silvio Berlusconi began his career by selling vacuum cleaners and built a reputation as a crooner in nightclubs and on cruise ships.

He graduated in law in 1961 and then set up Edilnord, a construction company, establishing himself as a residential housing developer around his native Milan.

Ten years later he launched a local cable-television outfit - Telemilano - which would grow into Italy's biggest media empire, Mediaset.

His huge Fininvest holding company now has Mediaset, Italy's largest publishing house Mondadori, the daily newspaper Il Giornale, AC Milan and dozens of other companies under its umbrella.

Berlusconi in numbers

• At least 51 votes of confidence (including 14 October vote) in his government since it took power in 2008
• Three election victories - 1994, 2001 and 2008
• Two election defeats - 1996 and 2006
• Four ongoing trials
• 75 years old
• $9bn - net worth of Berlusconi and his family (Forbes, 2010)

• The secret of Silvio Berlusconi's success

His investment company also controls the country's three biggest private TV stations while the prime minister's appointees control the three RAI public channels too.

Forza Italia

In 1993, Mr Berlusconi founded his own political party, Forza Italia - Go Italy - named after a chant used by AC Milan fans.

The following year he became prime minister, forming a coalition with the right-wing National Alliance and Northern League.

But rivalries between the three leaders, coupled with Mr Berlusconi's indictment for alleged tax fraud by a Milan court, led to the collapse of the government just seven months later.

He lost the 1996 election to the left-wing Romano Prodi but by 2001 he was back in power, in coalition once more with his former partners.

A decade later, having headed the longest-serving Italian government since World War II, he was again defeated by Mr Prodi.

He returned to office in 2008 at the helm of a revamped party, People of Freedom, but the political uncertainty that surrounds him has continued.

Legal battles

Mr Berlusconi, a native of Milan, has frequently complained that he is being victimised by the city's legal authorities.

Silvio Berlusconi's three business trials

• Accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony in 1997
• He and other executives accused of inflating the price paid for TV rights
• He and others accused of fraud and embezzlement over TV rights acquisition

He has been accused of embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting, and attempting to bribe a judge. But he has always denied wrongdoing and has never been definitively convicted.

In 2009, Mr Berlusconi estimated that over 20 years he had made 2,500 court appearances in 106 trials, at a legal cost of 200m euros.

His government passed reforms shortening the statute of limitations for fraud, but part of a 2010 law granting him and other senior ministers temporary immunity has been struck down by the Constitutional Court, which left the decision up to individual trial judges.

Mr Berlusconi's political struggles have been accompanied by a string of lascivious reports in the Italian press about his private life.

These have culminated in his trial on charges of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute.

Berlusconi's women

Karima El Mahroug - or Ruby - denies having sex with Mr Berlusconi

It emerged in October 2010 that Mr Berlusconi had called a police station asking for the release of a 17-year-old girl, Karima "Ruby" El Mahroug.

She was being held for theft and was also said to have attended Mr Berlusconi's parties.

On 15 February, examining judge Cristina Di Censo ordered Mr Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of having sex with Ms El Mahroug - a charge they both deny. He has also been charged with abuse of power in another case related to the same young woman.

Other sex scandals have dogged Mr Berlusconi.

In May 2009, his second wife said she was divorcing him after he was photographed at the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia. She also accused him of selecting a "shamelessly trashy" list of candidates for the European parliament.

He faced further scandal when photos were published of topless women and a naked man at his villa on Sardinia, and also of a celebrity using the prime minister's official jet to fly to the island.

In July 2009, audio recordings appeared in the Italian media which were said to be between the prime minister and an escort, Patrizia D'Addario, who said she and other women were paid to attend so-called "bunga bunga" parties at his residence in Rome.

Mr Berlusconi has always maintained he is "no saint" but firmly denies having ever paid for sex with a woman.

The Italian leader appears younger than his age, partly because of a hair transplant and plastic surgery around his eyes.

But in November 2006, after his election defeat, Mr Berlusconi collapsed at a party rally.

He was later fitted with a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat and said he needed to slow down.

In December 2009, he was assaulted in a street in Milan. On that occasion, he got out of the car into which he had been bundled by security guards, to show the crowd he was not badly injured.