Wang Jian: Chairman of Chinese conglomerate falls to death while posing for photo on France trip
'He stood on the edge of a sharp drop to get his family to take a picture of him and fell'
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Your support makes all the difference.A Chinese billionaire died after falling 50 feet while posing for a photo on a business trip to southern France, police said.
Wang Jian, the co-founder and co-chairman of the HNA group, a conglomerate that operates China‘s fourth-largest airline, died after suffering “severe injuries” in Provence, the company said.
Mr Wang fell off a wall in the village of Bonnieux, near Avignon, a picturesque area popular with tourists, according to lieutenant-colonel Hubert Meriaux of the Vaucluse gendarmerie.
“He stood on the edge of a sharp drop to get his family to take a picture of him and fell,” he said.
French police said his death was “likely an accident” based on witness accounts.
Mr Wang, who had a reported net worth of $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion), helped launch HNA in 1993. The group later expanded into finance, hotels, logistics and other businesses in a multibillion-dollar global acquisition spree.
More recently, the business has been selling off some assets as Chinese regulators tighten lending controls and press companies to rein in debt.
Wang graduated from the Civil Aviation University of China and received an MBA from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands, his company said.
HNA agreed last year to acquire a hedge fund operated by former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and adviser to US President Donald Trump.
But the deal did receive regulatory approval and it was called off by both sides in April.
Additional reporting by agencies
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