Who is easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou? His £830m family stake, fortune and easy empire

The billionaire businessman who started easyJet with just two leased aircraft is at the centre of another enormous deal as the budget airline moves towards a £5.7 billion American takeover.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the man behind the famous orange airline, and his family own shares worth around £830 million at the price being offered by US private equity giant Apollo.

But while other shareholders are being offered cash, the Greek-born entrepreneur and his siblings have decided to keep their money invested in the airline.

And easyJet is far from his only business interest. Over the past three decades, the 59-year-old has put the famous easy name on everything from hotels and cruises to cinemas, gyms, internet cafés and even a discount supermarket.

So how much of easyJet does Stelios still own, how rich is he and what happened to his other businesses?

Does Stelios Haji-Ioannou still own easyJet?

Yes, although he has not owned the airline outright for decades.

Stelios floated easyJet on the London Stock Exchange in 2000, allowing members of the public and institutional investors to buy shares.

He and his family remained major shareholders, and together they currently control approximately 15.31% of the airline.

The shares are held by Stelios, his brother Polys and sister Clelia, including through family investment companies.

The family remains easyJet's largest shareholder group and has backed Apollo's proposed takeover.

How much will Stelios make from the easyJet takeover?

The family's 116 million easyJet shares are valued at approximately £830 million under Apollo's offer of 715p per share.

But that does not mean Stelios will personally receive £830 million.

The figure represents the entire family's shareholding, not his individual stake.

Crucially, the family has agreed to exchange almost all its existing shares for shares in the new privately owned business rather than take the cash on offer.

Stelios has said the family intends to remain invested as long-term major shareholders.

And there is another important financial benefit he retains: ownership of the easy brand itself, which generates income through licensing agreements with easyJet and other businesses.

How old is Stelios Haji-Ioannou and where does he live?

Stelios was born in Athens, Greece, on February 14, 1967, making him 59 years old.

He is a British and Cypriot citizen and has lived in Monaco since 1990.

He lives in the Mediterranean principality with his wife Orla Murphy and their daughter, and continues to run his easyGroup business interests from Monaco and London.

He is the son of the late Greek-Cypriot shipping magnate Loucas Haji-Ioannou and studied at the London School of Economics and City University Business School.

He received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 for services to entrepreneurship.

When did Stelios start easyJet?

Stelios developed the idea for easyJet in 1994, when he was just 27, after studying the success of low-cost airlines in America.

The airline launched its first flights in November 1995, initially operating between Luton and Glasgow and Edinburgh.

His father helped finance the fledgling business, which challenged traditional airlines by offering no-frills travel at lower prices.

The idea proved enormously successful.

By 2000, easyJet was big enough to float on the stock market. Today it operates a fleet of around 360 aircraft and carries approximately 100 million passengers a year.

What other businesses does Stelios own?

The familiar orange easyJet logo became the foundation of a much bigger business empire.

Through easyGroup, Stelios retained ownership of the easy name and began licensing it to companies in other sectors.

Among the better-known ventures are easyHotel, easyCar, easyBus, easyStorage, easyMoney and easyGym.

The business model means Stelios does not necessarily own the operating companies themselves. Instead, easyGroup can earn royalties when other businesses pay to use its branding.

Indeed, easyHotel, another of his major creations, was bought by investment firm Tristan Capital Partners in 2025, although the easyHotel brand continues.

What happened to easyCinema, easyFoodstore and the other easy businesses?

Not every attempt to repeat easyJet's success took off.

easyCinema: Launched in Milton Keynes in 2003, the budget cinema experimented with tickets costing as little as 20p. But difficulties securing major new film releases undermined the model, and the original cinema closed in 2006. The easyCinema name has since reappeared as an online movie discovery platform.

easyEverything: This chain of enormous internet cafés launched in 1999, offering cheap access to computers before home broadband became widespread. The business declined as internet access moved into homes and mobile devices.

easyFoodstore: The discount supermarket made headlines in 2016 by selling everyday groceries for just 25p. Demand was so great that its first store temporarily ran out of stock. The venture never developed into a major national supermarket chain.

easyCruise: Stelios also tried to shake up the cruise industry with a low-cost holiday concept. The original cruise operation was eventually sold, while the easyCruise name now operates as a cruise-booking service.

Other easy-branded ventures have included car rental, buses, gyms, cleaning services, storage and financial products.

How rich is Stelios Haji-Ioannou?

Forbes estimates Stelios's personal fortune at approximately $1.5 billion, equivalent to more than £1 billion.

His wealth comes from his airline investments, the wider easy brand empire and other business interests.

He is also a major philanthropist.

His Stelios Philanthropic Foundation supports charitable projects in Britain, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Monaco and France.

According to his foundation, Stelios and easyGroup have donated more than €138 million to charitable causes.

Will Stelios still be involved with easyJet after the takeover?

Yes, as an investor and owner of the brand, although he will not be taking back day-to-day control of the airline.

Apollo intends to retain the easyJet name and its existing licensing arrangement with easyGroup.

That means the man who launched the airline more than 30 years ago is set to remain financially connected to its future, even after easyJet leaves the stock market.