Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production site of the Saras Group is the Sarroch refinery located on the island of Sardinia, 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 of Internazionale. 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 as Ronaldo in 1997.
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 in Cagliari, which focuses on the production of electricity from waste 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 a United Nationsgoodwill ambassador.
In May 2011, Moratti supported Giuliano Pisapia's bid to become mayor of Milan against his sister-in-law Letizia. His call for 'change' was perceived as an extension of his rivalry with A.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]
Chairman of Inter
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 five Scudetti/Serie A in a row from 2006 to 2010 (equalling the then-all-time record), four Coppa Italia titles (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011), four Supercoppa Italiana titles (2005, 2006, 2008, 2010), one UEFA Champions League (2010), one FIFA Club World Cup (2010) and one UEFA 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 the Treble.
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 of Udinese, 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 businessman Erick 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 to Erick Thohir's Nusantara Sports Ventures HK Limited for €60 million (and re-sold to Zhang Jindong's Suning 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]
