Born in Milan on May 21, 1957. Married, with four children.
Since August 2016, he has been the Chairman and CEO of RCS MediaGroup, of which he acquired control through a voluntary total tender offer.
Graduated in Economics and Business from Bocconi University in Milan. He began his career in 1981 with the Fininvest Group and subsequently at Publitalia ’80, where he became Deputy General Manager; in 1991 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Mondadori Pubblicità.
In 1995, he founded Cairo Pubblicità S.p.A., an advertising concessionaire that started its activities with the advertising concession of certain RCS periodicals. In 1997, he expanded the group's structure with the launch of Cairo Due S.p.A., which managed the advertising sales of innovative and alternative media and reached a turnover of approximately 50 million euros. In 1998, the growth continued with the establishment of Cairo TV S.p.A. (following the acquisition from the Tele+ Group of 100% of Tele+ Pubblicità), a concessionaire dedicated to analog and digital pay TV, which tripled its turnover in just three years compared to the value before the acquisition.
In 1999, he acquired the entire share capital of Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori, a prestigious publishing house that publishes some of the most popular and refined Italian monthly magazines such as Bell'Italia, Bell'Europa, Airone, In Viaggio, Gardenia, Arte e Antiquariato, and, thanks to some structural innovations and a new editorial policy, quickly achieved the company's economic break-even from a pre-acquisition loss of approximately 5 million euros per year, maintaining unchanged the company's workforce and the high quality level of the publications.
In 2000, he acquired Il Trovatore, an Internet search engine with proprietary technology capable of offering highly appreciated content and services to users.
In July 2000, he went public with the listing of Cairo Communication, placing approximately 26% of the capital and raising funds (over 105 million euros) that would allow him to seize future development opportunities.
In 2002, through Cairo Communication, he signed an exclusive multi-year contract for advertising sales on La7, thus entering the Commercial TV sector, the most important segment of the Italian advertising market; in the first year of activity, he almost doubled the turnover, in the third year he exceeded the contractual targets for renewal, and, thanks to significant additional results in a poorly performing market, he consolidated in 2010 the relationship with the network with a new long-term agreement.
In 2003, he founded Cairo Editore, which gave a strong boost to paper publishing activity with the launch of new highly successful magazines, including For Men Magazine, Natural Style, Dipiù, and DipiùTV.
In 2005, he acquired 100% of Torino FC S.p.A., became its president, and in just one season, he led the team to promotion to Serie A.
In the following years, he continued the strategy of expanding the publishing portfolio, with the birth of new publications such as Diva e Donna, Nuovo, and F, making Cairo Editore the leading publisher of weeklies in Italy in terms of copies sold.
In 2013, after lengthy negotiations, Cairo acquired the La7 television network from Telecom, significantly expanding his integrated offering and, through a careful restructuring plan, quickly achieving positive margins and reducing losses.
In 2023, he launched the publishing house “Fuori Scena” in Italy. In June 2025, he launched the Veo7 channel in Spain and, in October, La7Cinema in Italy.