Left Beijing for Hong Kong at 14, worked in garment and electronics factories to save for overseas study, earned a scholarship-funded education in the UK, worked in finance in Hong Kong and New York,
THE RECORD
Left Beijing for Hong Kong at 14, worked in garment and electronics factories to save for overseas study, earned a scholarship-funded education in the UK, worked in finance in Hong Kong and New York, then co-founded SOHO China with husband Pan Shiyi in 1995, building it into a major Beijing office developer before stepping down as CEO in September 2022 and shifting business activities toward the United States via Closer Media and Closer Properties.
SELECTED PUBLIC REFERENCES
2026 · Investor/Pass Founder Ledger
Zhang Xin — Founder Ledger Overview
Zhang Xin — founder profiled in the Chinese Founder Ledger — is documented as follows: left Beijing for Hong Kong at 14, worked in garment and electronics factories to save for overseas study, earned a scholarship-funded education in the UK, worked in finance in Hong Kong and New York, then co-founded SOHO China with husband Pan Shiyi in 1995, building it into a major Beijing office developer before stepping down as CEO in September 2022 and shifting business activities toward the United States via Closer Media and Closer Properties. The profile is grounded in the 2 sources indexed for this founder.
Zhang Xin's role is documented as: co-founder of SOHO China; resigned as CEO effective September 7, 2022, remaining an executive director; also founder of Closer Media and CEO of Closer Properties Confirmed resigned as SOHO China CEO effective September 7, 2022 per a stock exchange filing reported by the South China Morning Post; Wikipedia's infobox (referencing 'Zhang in 2026') lists her current roles as including Founder of Closer Media and CEO of Closer Properties, alongside her retained SOHO China co-founder status (research date: 2026-08-23).
Soho China's billionaire founders relinquish top roles to pursue philanthropy after failed bid to sell company
Since 2020, Pan and Zhang had attempted to sell their controlling SOHO China stake to the Blackstone Group; Blackstone walked away from the deal (which had valued SOHO China at HK$5 per share, or US$3.3 billion) in September 2021, and the aborted transaction triggered a probe involving SOHO China's chief financial officer over possible insider trading.
Soho China's billionaire founders relinquish top roles to pursue philanthropy after failed bid to sell company
Effective September 7, 2022, Pan resigned as chairman of SOHO China 'to focus on supporting the arts and philanthropic pursuits,' per the company's stock exchange filing, while remaining an executive director; SOHO China named Huang Jingsheng as non-executive chairman and promoted company veterans Xu Jin and Qian Ting as co-chief executive officers.
Soho China's billionaire founders relinquish top roles to pursue philanthropy after failed bid to sell company
The Blackstone sale collapsed in September 2021 amid an insider-trading probe involving SOHO China's CFO; Pan formally resigned as chairman a year later (September 2022), remaining an executive director while relocating primarily to the United States.
Zhang's Burmese-Chinese parents immigrated to China and worked as translators at the Foreign Languages Press before separating during the Cultural Revolution; Zhang moved with her mother to Hong Kong at age 15, living in a room with only two bunk beds, and worked five years in small garment and electronics factories to save enough for airfare and self-support to study in London.
At 19, Zhang saved enough to travel to the UK, worked in a fish-and-chip shop run by a Chinese couple to support herself, studied English at a secretarial school in Oxford, and took Margaret Thatcher as a personal role model before starting a career in finance in Hong Kong and New York.
From 1995 to 2022, Zhang and her husband Pan Shiyi built SOHO China into a major office developer during China's property boom, before stepping down from the company ahead of the sector's subsequent downturn.
Since the 2010s, Zhang and Pan have shifted their assets and business activities toward the United States; per Wikipedia's current infobox, Zhang now also holds roles as founder of Closer Media and CEO of Closer Properties, and a January 2026 Bloomberg video interview describes her discussing US investment as a way to diversify from China.