Tony Xia
| Tony Xia | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Xia Jiantong 26 October 1976 (age 40) Quzhou, Zhejiang, China |
| Residence | Beijing, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Oxford University |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, investor |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Children | 1 |
Tony Jiantong Xia (Chinese: 夏建统; pinyin: Xià Jiàntǒng; born 26 October 1976) is a Chinese businessman. He is currently the chairman, CEO and owner of Recon Group. In June 2016, Recon Group bought Aston Villa Football Club from American businessman Randy Lerner, with Xia becoming chairman of the club.
Xia was born in Quzhou, Zhejiang. He began school at the age of four, with his parents telling the school he was six for legal reasons. At the age of 14, he left home to attend university in Beijing. He was considered to be one of the most highly rated graduates and, aged 19, was amongst the first 25 of 1,000 selected to study abroad at Harvard (where he studied landscape design), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a five-month exchange to study at Trinity College, Oxford in 1998–99.
In March 1999, Xia founded design company XWHO in Boston, co-owned by his then girlfriend and one of his lecturers. The company relocated to Hangzhou, China where Xia started a planning company called Teamax, which he sold for £430 million.
Xia took over Chinese company Recon Group in 2004. The company is based in Beijing and Hangzhou and is the umbrella organisation for Xia's companies which operate in IT, Health and Agriculture, New Energy and Smart Transportation, Engineering and Design, financial services, and Sports, Leisure and Tourism.
Xia says he plans to invest in or buy football clubs in India, Spain, USA and Australia to create a new 'sports sector' within his portfolio. In February 2017 Recon Group subsidiary Recon Holding agreed to purchase a 51% stake in Millennium Films, a Hollywood film studio specialising in action films including The Expendables series. Previous majority stakeholder and founder Avi Lerner will remain as Chief Executive Officer with Xia becoming chairman.
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