Shahid Khan

Some Lesser Known Facts about Shahid Khan

• Does Shahid Khan smoke?: Not known

• Does Shahid Khan drink alcohol?: Not known

• He is the owner of the ‘Jacksonville Jaguars,’ a Jacksonville, (Florida) based American professional football franchise, which competed in the National Football League (NFL), and proprietor of the Fulham (London) based ‘London Soccer Club Fulham,’ which is a professional association football club as well as English Football League Championship (EFLC) team. 

• He also occupies the ‘Toronto Four Seasons’ complex, located at Yorkville district in Toronto (Canada).

• Shahid belongs to a middle-class family that initially was involved in a construction business.

• His grandfather had 7 wives and 50 children.

• Through the inherited property of his grandfathers, his father opened a law school and later started a small business also.

• In 1967, at the age of 16, he went to the United States to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

• After shifting to the United States from Pakistan, he struggled very hard to build his career; as he spent his first night at the ‘Young Men’s Christian Association’ (YMCA) at $2/night room expense, and started the work of washing dishes for $1.20 an hour.

• While studying in school, he joined the ‘Beta Theta Pi’ fraternity, which is one of North America’s oldest fraternities.

• In 1991, he got the US citizenship. 

• While doing his graduation, Shahid started working in an automotive manufacturing company ‘Flex-N-Gate,’ and after completion of his graduation, he was hired as the engineering director by the company.

• Khan, first time, met his wife Ann Carlson at his college bar, and spend together a courtship for a long time. They decided to get married in the year 1977.

• In 1978, he tried his hand in the company ‘Bumper Works,’ This company used to make the one-piece truck bumpers for customized pickup trucks, and body shop repairs. For its investment, he took $50,000 loan from a United States government agency- ‘Small Business Administration.’

• In 1980, he decided to purchase ‘Flex-N-Gate’ from his employer Charles Gleason Butzow.

• After owing the ‘Flex-N-Gate,’ he first started supplying bumpers to the ‘Big Three Automakers’ of the United States.

• In 1984, he used to supply a small number of bumpers to the ‘Toyota’ industry, then, gradually in 1989, his company became the sole supplier for the entire Toyota pickups in the US. Till 2010, company’s sale grew from $17 million to an estimated $2 billion. It expanded further with 12,450 employees, and 48 manufacturing plants, in the United States, and other countries.

• On January 4, 2012, he purchased the ‘Jacksonville Jaguars’ from Wayne Weaver at $760 million, with the approval of NFL owners. He also became the first member of an ethnic minority, having an NFL team. 

• In 2012, Forbes Magazine described him as a face of the American Dream. 

• On July 12, 2013, Shahid bought ‘London Soccer Club Fulham’ from its owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, with the amount approximately between £150–200 million. He was also appointed as a board member of the NFL (National Football League) Foundation. 

• His son Tony Khan, the Illinois state scholar, is the senior VP of Football Technology, and Analytics for the ‘Jaguars.’ He also manages his father’s two major ventures- ‘Smart Structures,’ and ‘Bio-Alternatives.’ 

• Khan’s daughter Shanna Khan, a philanthropist, is involved in the several welfare causes like Spurlock Museum and Krannert Center for Performing Arts, and the University of Illinois’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.

• Khan ranks 158th wealthiest person in the world and has a 70th position in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

• He is also one of the richest persons of Pakistan origin.

• Here is a brief glance at his interview: