[2][3] He was awarded the Order of Merit for Labour by the Italian state in 1983,[4] the Medaglia d'oro ai benemeriti della cultura e dell'arte (gold medal of culture and art)[5] and the Legion d'Honneur in 1987.

Born into a wealthy Jewish family, on 14 November 1934, Carlo De Benedetti is the brother of Italian Senator Franco Debenedetti, whose surname is different owing to a spelling error.

[3] After Carlo returned to Italy, he received a degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin[1] and in 1959 began to work in his father's manufacturing business, the Compagnia Italiana Tubi Metallici Flessibili.

[1] Carlo De Benedetti left Italy to return to Switzerland in 1975, owing to possible terrorist threats during the Anni di Piombo period of Italian domestic terrorism.

[13] In November 1976, De Benedetti acquired the CIR Group,[1] thereby also obtaining control of the national newspaper La Repubblica and the newsmagazine L'Espresso.

[18][19] Other offers for SME included most notably one for a joint venture with Fininvest, a media group owned by entrepreneur and future Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The sale to De Benedetti was later blocked by the then Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi,[18] and SME remained state-owned until almost 10 years later.

[20] In 1995, Silvio Berlusconi, Cesare Previti and Attilio Pacifico were accused of having bribed Filippo Verde and Renato Squillante to fix the trial against De Benedetti.

In 1993, during the Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) political-corruption investigations, Carlo De Benedetti was arrested and admitted to having paid a Lit.10 billion bribe to government parties, to obtain a purchase order from the Italian Postal Service for obsolete teleprinters and computers.