Xu Ming, entrepreneur and billionaire, Died at 44

  Business

Xu Ming was born on April 1971, and died on December 4, 2015.

He was a Chinese entrepreneur and onetime billionaire from Dalian, Liaoning.

Xu Ming was the founder of the conglomerate Dalian Shide Group, and the chairman of Dalian Shide F.C., China’s top football club in the 2000s.

In 2005 Forbes ranked him the eighth-richest person in China, with an estimated net worth of US$1.05 billion, but his net worth declined to $690 million in 2011.

The 2013 Hurun Report estimated his wealth to be around US$490 million, ranking 676th in China.

Xu Ming had close relationships with several high-ranking government officials and their families, especially the former Politburo member Bo Xilai.

After Bo was implicated in a political scandal and fell from power in 2012, Xu was also taken into custody.

He testified at Bo’s trial in August 2013.

Xu was born 1971 in Dalian, Liaoning in Northeast China.

Xu Ming has a master’s degree from the Shenyang Institute of Aeronautical Engineering (now Shenyang Aerospace University) and an MBA from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.

He entered the work force in 1990, working for the Foreign Economic and Trade Commission of Zhuanghe, a county-level city under the administration of Dalian.

Only a year later, Xu Ming quits his stable government job to establish several construction companies, which were awarded contracts for the earthwork projects of Shengli Square in front of the Dalian Railway Station and Xinghai Square, also in Dalian.

Both projects were successful and received praises from Dalian municipal officials.

On 4 December 2015, Xu passed away in prison from an illness, aged 44.