Shahid Khan, billionaire in the automotive industry, in October 2024. picture alliance / abaca | TNS/ABACA
Shahid Khan is a Pakistani-American businessman. His fortune is estimated at nine to 11 billion euros.
He started out as a dishwasher and later founded Bumper Works. His company bought “Flex-N-Gate” in the 80s and became a major automotive supplier.
Khan has been investing in sports clubs for over a decade and is involved in charitable work through the Jaguars Foundation. This supports US war veterans and children’s projects.
Shahid Khan is a business tycoon. But the American with Pakistani roots is not one of the super-rich people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth: the immigrant worked hard for his fortune.
From Pakistan to the USA: He started as a dishwasher
Shahid Khan was born in Pakistan, where he spent his childhood. In 1967 he emigrated to the USA – for him “the promised land”. He set off with the equivalent of around 450 euros in his pocket. His destination: the university in the US state of Illinois, where he began studying engineering.
To finance his studies, he looked for a job: Khan worked as a dishwasher for $1.20 an hour at the time. For him, it was anything but an underpaid job, as he revealed to “Forbes”: “I was overjoyed. I immediately thought: Wow, I can work. I am in control of my destiny.”
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Start of a great career
While still studying engineering, Khan began working for the automotive supplier “Flex-N-Gate”. It was probably not foreseeable at the time that this company would one day make him a fortune.
Flex-N-Gate supplied automobile manufacturers with bumpers welded together from various parts. Shahid Khan was looking for a way to produce the product with less effort and without additional welding work – which he finally succeeded in doing.
With his newly acquired knowledge and additional self-confidence, Khan left his employer Flex-N-Gate to become self-employed with his startup “Bumper Works”. His efforts soon began to bear fruit: he landed the US automobile giant General Motors as his company’s first customer.
When his former employer’s company was up for sale two years later, Khan didn’t hesitate for long and made Flex-N-Gate a takeover offer. The former employee returned as boss to the company where he had gained his first professional experience in the industry.
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Flex-N-Gate today
The takeover by Khan turned out to be a stroke of luck for the group, as the Pakistani integrated Bumper Works with the entire customer base, which had now grown significantly, into Flex-N-Gate. Shahid Khan had ambitious plans for the company itself: He wanted to turn the former bumper manufacturer into one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world.
Khan accelerated the group’s expansion through a series of acquisitions. He significantly expanded the product range and acquired numerous new customers such as VW, Toyota, Ford and Suzuki. Flex-N-Gate is now an employer for around 27,000 employees worldwide – the automotive supplier produces for its customers around the world in over 76 production facilities.
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Shahid Khan today
Shahid Khan is now 74 years old and married to Ann Khan. He has two children. Together with his son Tony Khan, he has been one of the founders and co-owners of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), a professional wrestling entertainment company that is considered a competitor to WWE, since 2019. Previously, Khan acquired the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and English soccer club Fulham FC in 2013.
Khan is also the owner of the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and, according to Forbes, plans to open a new Four Seasons Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2026. His fortune is estimated by the “Bloomberg” billionaire index at 9.19 billion euros and by “Forbes” magazine at 11.59 billion euros.
