13 Facts About Tony Xia

Tony Xia is the chairman, CEO and owner of Recon Group.

Tony Xia has a PhD as a doctor of design in urban planning.

In March 1999, Xia founded design company XWHO in Boston, US co-owned by his then-girlfriend and one of his lecturers.

Tony Xia 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.

Tony Xia added he planned to invest in or buy football clubs in India, Spain, the US, and Australia to create a new 'sports sector' within his portfolio.

On 19 March 2020, Tony Xia announced that the Recon Group had focused attention to their Healthcare and Bioscience division, which was producing and exporting COVID-19 testing kits, hand sanitizer, ventilators, thermometers and PPE to countries around the world that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 6 June 2018, Tony Xia suspended Aston Villa's CEO Keith Wyness, who later resigned, after he was alleged to have discussed the prospect of Aston Villa's possible administration and subsequent 12-point deduction with third parties without Tony Xia's knowledge.

Tony Xia sold his majority stake in the club to NSWE in July 2018, and became a minority stakeholder and co-chairman.

Recon Group, and by extension Tony Xia, were accused of Breach of Contract and Non-Payment of Debt.

Tony Xia responded via his Twitter account, claiming that the allegations were a fabrication, created by a "local competitor attempting to cause damage to [him]".

Tony Xia reportedly spent 6 months in several detention centres in China between July 2020 and January 2021, after being formally arrested on suspicion of harming the interests of a Shenzhen-listed manufacturing company.

My concern was that for a supposed billionaire with a string of companies, Mr Tony Xia appeared not to have a grasp of basic financial modelling.

Tony Xia became an Aston Villa fan after watching them at Villa Park during his time as a student at Oxford University.