Massimo Moratti | |
|---|---|
 Moratti in 2018 | |
| Chairman of Inter Milan | |
| In office 2006–2013 | |
| Preceded by | Giacinto Facchetti |
| Succeeded by | Erick Thohir |
| In office 1995–2004 | |
| Preceded by | Ernesto Pellegrini |
| Succeeded by | Giacinto Facchetti |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1945-05-16)16 May 1945 (age 80) |
| Spouse | Milly Moratti [it] (m. 1971) |
| Children | 5 |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for |
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Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italianbillionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner ofInter Milan and chairman of theSaras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialistAngelo Moratti. The main production site of the Saras Group is theSarroch refinery located on the island ofSardinia, one of Europe's only six supersites, with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, representing 15% of refining capacity in Italy. In recent years, initially to enable independence of the Sarroch refinery from terms of energy, the Saras Group has entered into the production of electricity and is expanding its production of alternative energy sources, particularly in the field of wind energy, through its subsidiaries Sarlux and Sardeolica, the latter of which is controlled indirectly through the company Eolici Ulassai.
From 1995 until 2013, Moratti was the chairman ofInternazionale. He is said to have spent around €1.5 billion of his personal fortune in the transfer market,[1] and was famous for signing numerous football superstars such asRonaldo in 1997.
He was Inter's honorary chairman, and also aUnited Nationsgoodwill ambassador.[citation needed] In 2013, he was inducted into theItalian Football Hall of Fame.[2]
Moratti is the fourth son of industrialistAngelo Moratti, who was the chairman ofFootball Club Internazionale Milano during the team's "Golden Age" from 1955 to 1968. Born in the family villa in theBosco Chiesanuova, close toVerona, he graduated fromLibera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli with a master's degree inpolitical science.
Letizia Moratti, his sister-in-law, was theMayor of Milan from 2006 until 2011.
On his father's death, Moratti inherited his shares in the Saras Group, engaged in the refining of petroleum, where he is presently CEO. Moratti is also the owner of Sarlux, headquartered inCagliari, which focuses on the production of electricity fromwaste oil.
Married to the environmental activist Emilia Moratti (née Bossi), the couple have five children. In September 2009, Sauro Gori announced that Moratti had been appointed aUnited Nationsgoodwill ambassador.
In May 2011, Moratti supportedGiuliano Pisapia's bid to become mayor of Milan against his sister-in-lawLetizia. His call for 'change' was perceived as an extension of his rivalry withA.C. Milan's president,Silvio Berlusconi, from football to the political sphere.[3]
In April 2020, he was ranked by Forbes at number 1513 in the world's billionaires list, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.[4]
Moratti took over as chairman of Inter from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995, during a period where many considered Inter to be underachievers. During the 18 years of his leadership, Inter clinched fiveScudetti/Serie A in a row from 2006 to 2010 (equalling the then-all-time record), fourCoppa Italia titles (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011), fourSupercoppa Italiana titles (2005, 2006, 2008, 2010), oneUEFA Champions League (2010), oneFIFA Club World Cup (2010) and oneUEFA Cup (1998). Inter won the Scudetto, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League in the 2009–2010 season, becoming the first Italian team that managed to achieve theTreble.
Moratti is said to have spent around €1.5 billion of his personal fortune in the transfer market in his time as chairman. His most famous signing was that ofRonaldo fromBarcelona in the summer of 1997, at a time when he was widely considered the best player in the world. Later, in July 1999, Moratti sanctioned a then world-record €48 million purchase of strikerChristian Vieri, and has purchased numerous others, includingRoberto Carlos,Hernán Crespo,Adriano,Iván Zamorano,Maicon,Roberto Baggio,Zlatan Ibrahimović,Luís Figo,Patrick Vieira,Samuel Eto'o,Alvaro Recoba andWesley Sneijder.
However, criticism also been levelled against Moratti, as he fired coaches frequently. Except keepingGiuseppe Baresi andDaniele Bernazzani as backroom staff in the first team or in the youth system, as well asMarco Branca as one of the directors, the team had changed fromRafael Benítez,Leonardo,Gasperini andRanieri in just two seasons.Roberto Mancini andJosé Mourinho were the only two trophy winning and longest serving coaches in recent years. Before Mancini, Moratti employed more than ten short-lived coaches, includingRoy Hodgson,Marcello Lippi,Marco Tardelli,Héctor Cúper andAlberto Zaccheroni.
The next day after Ranieri was dismissed, chief scout of the first team Giovanni Battista Lanfranchi was fired and replaced by the former technical commission ofUdinese, Valentino Angeloni.[5] Lanfranchi had served for Inter for 13 years[6] in different positions.
In November 2013, International Sports Capital took control of 70% of the club. Indonesian businessmanErick Thohir, a part-owner of that company, was elected chairman of Inter, but Moratti remained with the club as the honorary chairman.[7]
In June 2016, Moratti's Internazionale Holding S.r.l. sold all its stake in Inter Milan toErick Thohir's Nusantara Sports Ventures HK Limited for €60 million (and re-sold toZhang Jindong'sSuning Holdings Group). As of 2018, Moratti's wife, Milly Moratti, remained in the advisory board of Inter. However, Moratti himself, was no longer the honorary chairman of the club.[8] Other members of the Moratti family, Angelomario Moratti, Carlotta Moratti, Giovanni Moratti, remained as members of the board of a subsidiary of the club, Inter Futura.[8]
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