John S. Middleton
| John S. Middleton | |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education |
Amherst College (B.A.) Harvard Business School (MBA) |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Net worth |
 US$2.9 billion(April 2015) |
| Spouse(s) | Leigh Middleton |
John S. Middleton is an American business leader and philanthropist. He is the principal owner of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, holding a 48% ownership stake in the team. His philanthropy has focused on ending homelessness.
The Middleton family descends from John Middleton, who in 1857 founded John Middleton Co., a Philadelphia retail tobacco shop that evolved into a manufacturer and marketer of pipe tobacco and cigars.
Middleton graduated from the Haverford School in 1973. He was a wrestler at Amherst College where he graduated magna cum laude in 1977 with his bachelor's degree in economics. He then attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 1979 with his Master of Business Administration.
Middleton is married to Leigh Middleton, and they have two children.
Middleton began working at his family’s cigar business at age 16. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he returned home to work at John Middleton Inc. where his father put him on the company’s board. Under Middleton, the company bought four tobacco brands from R.J. Reynolds in 1987, transforming the company into a major player in the pipe tobacco industry and paving the way for the subsequent growth of its packaged-cigar business.
In 2007, Middleton sold John Middleton Co. to Altria, the parent of Phillip Morris USA, for $2.9 billion.
Middleton is the President of Bradford Holdings, the parent company whose subsidiaries have included John Middleton Inc., Double Play Inc. and McIntosh Inns.
Middleton bought a 15% stake in the Phillies for $18 million in 1994. Serving as head of the limited partnership, Middleton has been elected chairman of the partners’ Advisory Board annually since 1998.
When Phillies' chairman David Montgomery took a medical leave of absence in 2014, Middleton assumed a more active role in the Phillies, overseeing on-field and business performance. In 2015, the Phillies’ ownership group designated Middleton as their public voice. Middleton committed that the Phillies would have a greater focus on analytics, which influenced the hiring of Andy MacPhail, president, and Matt Klentak, general manager.
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