What is Shahid Khan's Net Worth?
Shahid Khan, also known as Shad Khan, is a Pakistani-born entrepreneur who has a net worth of $12 billion. After coming to the United States with a total of $500, he earned a massive fortune selling car bumpers. Shahid Khan owns the global auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate. He also owns a number of sports teams, including the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, the Premier League's Fulham FC, and the wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling. Khan is the richest person from Pakistan in the world.
Early Life and Education
Shahid Khan was born on July 18, 1950 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan to a middle-class family involved in the construction industry. He had a brother named Tariq who passed away in his early 20s. As a teenager in 1967, Khan moved to the United States to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. There, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering in 1971.
When he moved to the US, he had $500 to his name. That $500 represented his family in Pakistan's entire life savings. The dorms were not open yet, so Shahid found a room and a meal at the local YMCA for $2 a night. Spending the money made him nervous, so he took a job in the YMCA's kitchen where he washed dishes for $1.20 per hour to recoup some of the money spent on room and board. This was a revelation to him, as that meager $1.20 an hour was more than 99% of the people in Pakistan made. He washed dishes after class to pay his bills.
Flex-N-Gate
While still attending U of I, Khan worked at the auto parts company Flex-N-Gate. After he graduated from college, he was hired as the company's engineering director. In 1978, Khan launched his own company, Bumper Works, which produced car bumpers for pickup trucks and body shops. A couple years later, he purchased Flex-N-Gate from his former employer Charles Butzow, and brought Bumper Works under the company's umbrella. As he expanded the business, Khan supplied bumpers for the Big Three automakers. In 1984, he started supplying some bumpers for Toyota pickups, and by the end of the decade was the sole supplier for the entire Toyota line in the United States.
Khan grew Flex-N-Gate exponentially over the decades. By 2019, the company had 25,000 employees and 69 manufacturing facilities across the globe. The following year, its revenue reached $8.9 billion. However, the company has not been without its troubles; in 2012, it was fined $57,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for health violations at its plant in Urbana, Illinois. Additionally, the United Automobile Workers and other groups organized protests against Flex-N-Gate.
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Sports Ownership
Khan first ventured into the world of sports ownership in early 2010 when he attempted to acquire 60% of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Ultimately, the deal fell through. Khan was more successful in late 2011 when he agreed to purchase the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars from Wayne Weaver for $770 million. The sale was finalized in early 2012, making Khan one of the few NFL team owners to have been born outside of the United States.
In 2013, Khan purchased the Premier League club Fulham FC from Mohamed Al Fayed. Although not officially disclosed, the estimated purchase price was between £150-200 million. In 2019, Khan became a co-owner of the professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling, of which his son Tony is the CEO and president.
Other Ventures
Among his other business ventures, Khan was the majority shareholder in the Black News Channel during the network's two years of existence from 2020 to 2022. The network was subsequently purchased by Byron Allen and Entertainment Studios, and was merged into the television channel TheGrio.
Accolades and Honors
Khan has earned some awards and honors over the years for his work in the fields of business and engineering. A number of them have been given by his alma mater the University of Illinois, including a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999 and an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in 2006.
Personal Life
In 1977, Khan married Ann Carlson, whom he had dated since meeting at the University of Illinois in 1967. Together, they have two children, including son Tony, who founded All Elite Wrestling and holds executive positions with his father's Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC.
Khan owns a home in Naples, Florida and an apartment in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. He also owns the superyacht Kismet, built by Lürssen and finished by Reymond Langton and Espen Oeino. The yacht was featured in the 2019 Netflix film "6 Underground."
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