Outlet profile

Il Sole 24 Ore

Italian business-liberal (pro-market, center-right on economics)

Owned byConfindustria, Italy's main employers' and industry federation, owns roughly 98% of the newspaper's parent company, Gruppo 24 ORE

FundingSubscriptions, newsstand sales and advertising, with its owner Confindustria providing financial backing and covering losses in difficult years

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Il Sole 24 Ore was formed in 1965 from the merger of two older papers, Il Sole (founded 1865) and 24 Ore (founded 1933), and has since become Italy's newspaper of record for business, finance and economic policy. It is published by Gruppo 24 ORE, which is controlled by Confindustria, giving Italy's industrial and business lobby direct ownership of the country's most influential financial newspaper. The paper has faced periodic financial strain, including a 2016 accounting scandal in which executives were accused of inflating circulation figures, which damaged its credibility and led to leadership changes. Confindustria has repeatedly injected capital to keep the loss-making group afloat, reinforcing concerns about its editorial independence from its owner's industrial and policy interests. Editorially, it is generally seen as pro-market and supportive of Italian industry and European integration, while maintaining a reputation for relatively sober, data-driven reporting compared to Italy's more polarized general-interest press. Its English-language edition and wire service (Radiocor) extend its reach into international business and policy coverage, including U.S. political and economic news.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-02; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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