B arbara Berlusconi is an Italian business executive and one of the five children of the late Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon and former Prime Minister of Italy who was a dominant figure in Italian life for decades. Upon his death in 2023, his vast business empire, held under the family's holding company Fininvest, passed to his children. Barbara and her two full siblings, Eleonora and Luigi, inherited a combined stake in the company.

Fininvest controls a media and publishing empire that includes Mediaset (Italy's largest commercial broadcaster) and the publishing house Mondadori. It also has a significant stake in the asset manager Banca Mediolanum. Before her father's death, Barbara was involved in the family's businesses, most notably serving on the board of the A.C. Milan football club when it was owned by the family, where she held an executive role. She is now a key shareholder in one of Italy's most powerful and influential family conglomerates.