Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Stelios Haji-Ioannou (Greek Στέλιος Χατζηιωάννου, born February 14 1967, in Greece) is a Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur. He is the owner of easyGroup, which part-owns easyJet Airline Company PLC, the operator of easyJet airline. He prefers to be known simply by his first name, Stelios[1].
Stelios graduated from Rainham Mark Grammar School and the London School of Economics. He then went on to study for an MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance at Cass Business School, in London. He started by founding the shipping company Stelmar in 1992 with a loan from his father. With the success of the company he looked at starting an airline; after a visit to the United States, inspired by ryanair and Southwest and Virgin Atlantic he started easyJet, a "budget" airline in 1995.
The airline was an enormous success, easyJet being one of the major leaders in the European cheap flights boom of the 1990s. Stelios expanded his interests with the formation of the easyGroup in 1998. Through easyGroup he owns or part-owns a range of companies, covering a range of activities such as internet cafés, credit card finance, car rental, cinemas, buses and hotels. In August 2005 the easyGroup opened the first (and only) of their low-cost budget hotels in London. All follow the "easy" approach of few "frills" and following yield management principles. For a time he received unfavourable publicity for a policy of attempting to claim all company names/web URL's containing the word "easy" for his group of companies, even when then name was already in use.
In 2000, easyJet floated on the London Stock Exchange, and Stelmar floated on the New York Stock Exchange the following year. His personal fortune is estimated at £727 million. He was ranked 80th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006. He lives in London and Athens.