Shahid Khan

Shahid Rafiq "Shad" Khan[1] (Urdu: شاہد خان; born July 18, 1950)[2][3] is a Pakistani-American billionaire businessman and sports tycoon. He is the owner of Flex-N-Gate, an American supplier of motor vehicle components. Khan is also the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) and Fulham F.C. of the Premier League, and co-owner of the American wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), along with his son, Tony Khan.

For other people named Shahid Khan, see Shahid Khan (disambiguation).

Shahid Khan
Khan in 2015
Born
Shahid Rafiq Khan

(1950-07-18) July 18, 1950
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS)
Known for
Spouse
Ann Carlson
​
(m. 1977)​
Children2, including Tony
Football career
Jacksonville Jaguars
Position:Owner
Career information
College:Illinois
Career history
As an executive:

Khan was featured on the front cover of Forbes magazine in 2012, associating him as the face of the American Dream.[4][5] As of March 2023, Khan's personal net worth is $12.1 billion.[6] In 2021, he ranked 94th in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, and is the 291st richest person in the world. Khan is the richest auto parts magnate ahead of Georg F. W. Schaeffler who has a net worth of $9.1 billion.[7] He is also the wealthiest person of Pakistani origin.[8]

Early life and education

Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to a middle-class family involved in the construction industry.[9] His mother (now retired) was a professor of mathematics,[2] and his father Rafiq Khan used to have a shop that sold survey and drawing equipment.[10] Shahid Khan also had a brother named Tariq Rafiq Khan, who died in his early 20s.

Khan moved to the United States in 1967 at the age of 16[2] to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.[11][12] When he went to the United States, he spent his first night in a $2/night room at the university YMCA,[2] and his first job was washing dishes for $1.20 an hour.[2] He joined the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the school.[13] He graduated from the Grainger College of Engineering with a BSc in industrial engineering in 1971. He later was awarded the Mechanical Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999.[14][15][16]

Business career

Flex-N-Gate

Khan worked at the automotive manufacturing company Flex-N-Gate Corporation while attending the University of Illinois. When he graduated he was hired as the engineering director for the company. In 1978, he started Bumper Works, which made car bumpers for customized pickup trucks and body shop repairs.[11] The funds to start the new business included a $50,000 loan from the Small Business Administration and $16,000 of his own savings.[17]

In 1980, he bought Flex-N-Gate from his former employer Charles Gleason Butzow, bringing Bumper Works into the fold. Khan grew the company so that it supplied bumpers for the Big Three automakers. In 1984, he began supplying a small number of bumpers for Toyota pickups. By 1987 it was the sole supplier for Toyota pickups and by 1989 it was the sole supplier for the entire Toyota line in the United States. Adopting the Toyota Way increased company efficiency and ability to change its manufacturing process within a few minutes.[11][18] Since then, the company has grown from $17 million in sales to an estimated $2 billion in 2010 to $8.89 billion in 2020.[19]

By 2019, Flex-N-Gate had 25,000 employees and 69 manufacturing plants in the United States, China, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, Mexico and Canada.[12] In 2020, it had a revenue of $8.9 billion and was ranked as the 46th largest privately held American company by Forbes.[20] It is also ranked by Automotive News as the 7th largest American automotive parts supplier and overall 33rd largest supplier in the world.

In May 2012, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Flex-N-Gate $57,000 for health violations at its Urbana plant.[21] Before the 2012 NFL Draft, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and other environmentalist groups organized a campaign for several accusations against Flex-N-Gate and Khan.[22][23]

Sport and entertainment

Jacksonville Jaguars

Khan's first attempt to purchase a National Football League team came on February 11, 2010, when he entered into an agreement to acquire 60% of the then-St. Louis Rams from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, subject to approval by other NFL owners.[19] However, Stan Kroenke, the minority shareholder of the Rams, ultimately exercised a clause in his ownership agreement to match any proposed bid.[24]

On November 29, 2011, Khan agreed to purchase the Jacksonville Jaguars from Wayne Weaver and his ownership group subject to NFL approval.[25] Weaver announced his sale of the team to Khan later that same day. The terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, other than a verbal commitment to keep the team in Jacksonville, Florida.[26] The purchase price was $770 million.[27] The NFL owners unanimously approved the purchase on December 14, 2011.[28] The sale was finalized on January 4, 2012, making Khan the first member of an ethnic minority to own an NFL team.[29][30]

Khan is a board member of the NFL Foundation.[31]

Khan is one of three NFL team owners born outside of the United States of America, the other two being Kim Pegula of the Buffalo Bills, born in South Korea, and Zygi Wilf of the Minnesota Vikings, born in Germany.

Fulham F.C.

In July 2013, Khan negotiated the purchase of the London soccer club Fulham F.C. of the Premier League from its previous owner, Mohamed Al Fayed. The deal was finalized on July 12, 2013, with the amount estimated between £150–200 million.[32] An official purchase price for the club was not announced with him stating that it was "highly confidential".[33]

All Elite Wrestling

In 2019, it was revealed that Shahid Khan and his son, Tony Khan, are the lead investors behind the professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW).[34] Tony Khan is also the President and CEO of the promotion.[35]

Black News Channel

Khan was the majority shareholder in Black News Channel throughout the network's two-year existence.[36]

Personal life
Khan's yacht moored by Tower Bridge, London while the Jacksonville Jaguars were visiting for an NFL International Series game (October 2016).

Khan is Muslim.[37] Khan met Ann Carlson (now Ann Carlson Khan) at the University of Illinois in 1967 and dated her for ten years before they married in 1977.[38] They have two children together, a daughter named Shanna Khan and a son, Tony Khan.[39] Khan became a naturalized American citizen in 1991.[2]

Khan owns a house in Naples, Florida,[40] and the superyacht Kismet.[41] He also has an apartment in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.[42]

Awards and honors

Khan has received a number of awards from the University of Illinois, including a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999 from the Department of Mechanical Science and Industrial Engineering, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in 2006 from the College of Engineering, and (with his wife, Ann Carlson) the Distinguished Service Award in 2005 from the University of Illinois Alumni Association.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Detail by Officer/Registered Agent Name". search.sunbiz.org. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  2. "Shahid Khan: From Pakistan to pro-football", 60 Minutes profile of Khan (aired October 28, 2012)
  3. "New jaguar cub at zoo shares birthday with Shad Khan". fox30jax.com. Fox 30 News. August 12, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  4. Solomon, Brian (September 5, 2012) Shahid Khan: The New Face Of The NFL And The American Dream Forbes
  5. "Shahid Khan: The American Dream Personified". Chicago Ideas.
  6. "Shahid Khan". Forbes.
  7. "Shahid Khan". Forbes magazine. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  8. "Forbes profile: Shahid Khan". Forbes. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  9. Raza, Ahsan (September 22, 2012). "Lahore-born entrepreneur among US richest people". Dawn. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  10. "Early days of Shahid Khan – one of the richest Pakistani-Americans – in Lahore". Daily Pakistan Global. September 14, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  11. James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Free Press, 2nd ed., 2003, ISBN 0-7432-4927-5.
  12. Sandomir, Richard (December 1, 2011). "Jaguars Buyer Had His Eye on Ownership of a Franchise". The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  13. Ganguli, Tania (December 3, 2011). "Shahid Khan has true rags to riches American story". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  14. "MechSE Distinguished Alumni". Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.
  15. Professorship Profiles: Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Archived June 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Center on Health, Aging and Disability, UIUC College of Applied Health Sciences (retrieved February 12, 2010).
  16. "Who is Shahid Khan?" Archived March 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 11, 2010.
  17. Donald P. Cushman and Sarah Sanderson King, Continuously Improving an Organization's Performance: High-Speed Management, State University of New York Press, 1997, ISBN 0-7914-3311-0.
  18. Thomas H. Klier and James Rubenstein, Who Really Made Your Car? Restructuring and Geographic Change in the Auto Industry, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2008, ISBN 0-88099-334-0.
  19. Rams will be sold to Illinois businessman Shahid Khan Archived February 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 11, 2010.
  20. "Flex-N-Gate". Forbes magazine website.
  21. Wade, Patrick (June 14, 2012). "OSHA fines Flex-N-Gate $57,000". The News-Gazette. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  22. "CBS' Khan story sidesteps controversy". Automotive News. November 5, 2012.
  23. "NFL team owner Khan targeted by UAW effort to organize his parts plants". Automotive News. July 4, 2012.
  24. "Stan Kroenke is new Rams owner", AP at ESPN.com, August 25, 2010.
  25. Tania Ganguli (November 29, 2011). "Jack Del Rio fired, Jaguars being sold". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  26. "Weaver selling Jags, whom he believes will stay in Jacksonville". NFL.com. November 29, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  27. Smits, Garry. "Forbes ranks Jaguars owner Shad Khan fourth on list of wealthiest NFL owners". jacksonville.com. Florida Times-Union. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  28. "It's Unanimous: Jacksonville Jaguars Sale to Shahid Khan Approved". December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
  29. Tania Ganguli. "Dream completed: NFL owners approve sale of Jaguars to Shahid Khan". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  30. Ryan Moore, Shahid Khan and the Jacksonville Jaguars: A Harbinger of Future Minority Ownership in the National Football League? Where To Watch
  31. "The NFL Foundation Board". Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  32. "Shad Khan finalizes purchase of Premier League's Fulham football club". The Florida Times-Union. July 12, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  33. "Fulham: Owner Shahid Khan wants to take Fulham to 'next level'". BBC Sport. July 13, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  34. Joyner, KC (January 8, 2019). "Jaguars owners backing new All Elite Wrestling". ESPN. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  35. Currier, Joseph (January 1, 2019). "ALL ELITE WRESTLING AND DOUBLE OR NOTHING OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED". Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  36. Weprin, Alex (March 31, 2021). "Black News Channel Preps Primetime Reboot (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  37. "Fanning The Flames: New Jacksonville Jaguars Owner's Muslim Faith Stirs Stupidity". Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  38. Peake, Amber (October 2021). "Who is Shad Khan's wife? Meet Ann Carlson Khan". GRV Media. The Fovus. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  39. Ganguli, Tania. "Shahid Khan has true rags to riches American story". The Florida Times-Union.
  40. Davidflorida | (October 11, 2019). "Southwest Florida still home to four of the world's richest billionaires". David Critzer. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  41. "Super-yacht worth £70 million moored on the River Thames", Evening Standard, November 5, 2014
  42. "Connor Wielgos: Why the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars should move his team into Soldier Field". Chicago Tribune. August 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
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