Carlo De Benedetti Carlo De Benedetti is the founder of CIR, which has become over the last 25 years one of the largest holding companies in Italy listed on the Milan Stock Exchange and employing more than 10 thousand people. He was Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIR from 1976 to 1995, after which he has been appointed Executive Chairman of the Company. CIR is controlled by COFIDE-Compagnia Finanziaria De Benedetti, a listed company on the Milan Stock Exchange, of which Carlo De Benedetti is Chairman and the majority shareholder. The most important activities of the CIR-COFIDE Group are the following: ESPRESSO - It is CIR's most important investment and operates in the media sector, in publishing (daily newspapers and magazines), radio, digital television, in the collection of advertising and in the Internet sector. The parent company Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso SpA publishes the national daily newspaper la Repubblica and the weekly magazine L'Espresso. Through its subsidiaries it also publishes 16 regional daily newspapers, broadcasts three national radio stations, operates in the Internet sector and collects advertising for the Group publications and also for some third-party publications. It is by far the most important publisher of daily newspapers in Italy with approximately 6 million readers per day. La Repubblica, together with Corriere della Sera, is the most important daily newspaper in the country. The Espresso Group employs 3 thousand people. SOGEFI - Founded 25 years ago and chaired by Carlo De Benedetti, SOGEFI, with an annual revenue of 1 billion Euro and 6,300 employees, is one of the largest international groups operating in the sector of automotive components. Its core business encompasses two sectors of activity: filters and flexible suspension components. On 19 April 2005 Rodolfo De Benedetti was appointed Chairman of the company, while Carlo De Benedetti was appointed Honorary Chairman. ENERGIA - It is the third largestone of the leading energy operators in the country, established in July 1999 from a joint-venture between the CIR Group - which is the majority shareholder - and the Austrian provider Verbund, to take advantage of the liberalization of the electric and gas market in Italy. Energia is one of the few private operators with own generating plants. Energia is currently engaged in the construction of new plants and in repowering the existing structures to the highest technological standards, with the objective of reconciling the efficiency of its plants with respect for the environment. Energia is chaired by Rodolfo De Benedetti, Chief Executive Officer of CIR and COFIDE. In March 2000 Carlo De Benedetti founded CDB Web Tech, a listed company in the STAR segment of the Milan Stock Exchange. CDB Web Tech is the largest investment company in Italy specialized in high tech, biotech and nanotech direct investments and funds. Carlo De Benedetti is Executive Chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. Carlo De Benedetti has been a founding member in 1983 of the European Round Table of Industrialists (Brussels) of which he has been Vice Chairman until 2004. He has been also member of the European Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange from 1985 until June 2005. He is currently a member of the International Council of the CSIS- Center for Strategic & International Studies (Washington); the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science (IVA), (Stockholm), The Italian Council of INSEAD - The European Institute of Business Administration (Fontainebleau). In December 1998 he established the Rodolfo Debenedetti Foundation which he chairs, in memory of his father. The Foundation studies problems connected with welfare reform. Carlo De Benedetti's entrepreneurial career started in 1959 in the family business company Compagnia Italiana Tubi Metallici Flessibili, which was transformed into Gilardini of which he was Chairman and CEO from 1972 to 1976. From 1978 to 1983 Carlo De Benedetti was Vice Chairman and CEO of OLIVETTI, Chairman and CEO of the Company from 1983 to 1996, Honorary Chairman from 1996 to June 1999. Carlo De Benedetti was awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1983 and received the French Légion d'Honneur in 1987. Furthermore in 1986 he received an honorary degree in law from the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., USA. He completed his higher education at the Turin Polytechnic graduating in 1958 with a degree in electrical engineering. .