John S. Middleton Biography & Net Worth

John S. Middleton Biography & Net Worth

Known for keeping a low profile, John S. Middleton is a notable American businessman and entrepreneur who is also the owner of the Major League Baseball team Philadelphia Phillies. In the business world, he is most renowned for the 2007 sale of John Middleton Company, his family’s cigar company for $2.9 billion. The John Middleton Company was started as a tobacco shop by John great-great-grandfather John Middleton in 1856 in Philadelphia. The details surrounding John’s collecting interests are shrouded in mystery, but one sale hints at his art-market power.

Beyond the collecting world, John has been an active supporter of education and charitable institutions in the community. In 2012, he pledged over $16.2 million to the Drexel University, Philadelphia School District, Philadelphia Academies, and the Philadelphia Youth Network, and in 2013, he promised to donate $30 million to assist in alleviating the city’s homeless crisis by increasing the amount of affordable housing as well as opening a new medical center.

Early Life: Childhood, Education, Family

The American businessperson and philanthropist, John S. Middleton, who is best recognized for being the principal owner and managing partner of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, and holds a 48% ownership stake in the team, was born in the United States.

The Middleton family are the descendants of John Middleton, an American businessman who, in 1857, started the John Middleton Co., a retail tobacco shop in Philadelphia that evolved into a producer and marketer of cigars and pipe tobacco.

John S. Middleton is a learned man. He attended and graduated from the Haverford School in 1973. He was also a wrestler at Amherst College, a reputed institution from where he graduated in 1977 with his bachelor’s degree in economics. Furthermore, he attended Harvard Business School and graduated with his Master of Business Administration in 1979.

Professional Life: Businesses & Investments

John Middleton was 16 years old when he started working at his family’s cigar business. After graduating from Harvard Business School with his M.B.A, he returned home to take up a position at John Middleton Inc. where his father had appointed him on the company’s board.

Under John’s leadership, the company bought four different tobacco brands from R.J. Reynolds in 1987, converting the company into a major business entity in the pipe tobacco industry, and enabling the succeeding growth of its packaged-cigar business.

In 2003, John bought all shares in the company from his sisters and their mother for about $200 million. Four years later, he sold the John Middleton Company to Altria, the umbrella company of Phillip Morris USA, for a fee in the region of $2.9 billion.

John S. Middleton is the president of Bradford Holdings, the umbrella company whose subsidiaries include John Middleton Inc., McIntosh Inns, and Double Play Inc. (the entity that holds his stake in the Phillies).

In 1994, the cigar mogul acquired a 15% stake in the Major League Baseball team Philadelphia Phillies for $18 million. He has been elected chairman of the brand’s partners’ Advisory Board yearly since 1998.

When David Montgomery, chairman of the Phillies took a medical leave in 2014, John assumed a more dynamic role, overseeing both business and on-field performance, and enlarged his shareholding to 48% from 15. In 2015, he became the public face of the team’s ownership group. At the MLB owners’ meeting in November 2016, John was elected as the control person of the Phillies’ by the thirty clubs, making him the principal person accountable to the Phillies’ business activities and compliance with MLB rules.

Achievements: Awards & Honors

In 2014, the notable businessman (and his wife) was honored with the Philadelphia Award for his philanthropy. The award was given in appreciation for bettering the city’s standard of living through development projects and education.

John currently serves as a member of the Amherst College board of trustees, which awarded him a Medal for Eminent Service back in 2004, in honor of his dedication to the college.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Philanthropy

John S. Middleton and his wife Leigh Middleton have been married for many years. They are the parents of Frances “Francie” Fields and John Powers Middleton who is a known film and television producer.

Both John and his wife, Leigh, share humanitarian involvement in several organizations, most notable in Project HOME, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Penn Medicine, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In 2012, the couple announced a donation of more than $16.2 million to Drexel University, Philadelphia Academies, Philadelphia Youth Network, and the Philadelphia School District.

In 2013, the couple once again gifted $30 million to Project HOME in an attempt to end chronic homelessness.

John S. Middleton Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources

As of 2021, various online resources are pegging John S. Middleton’s net worth at about $3.4 billion. He is involved in several profitable business endeavors and has tied his hands to multiple projects and investments which have all contributed to his vast wealth.