MILAN Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman who created Italy's largest media company before transforming the political landscape, has died on Monday, according to sources.

Berlusconi, who was 86, had been suffering from leukaemia "for some time" and had recently developed a lung infection.

Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition, and although he himself did not have a role in government, his death is likely to destabilise Italian politics in the coming months.

(Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Elvira Pollina, writing by Federica Urso editing Gianluca Semeraro)