Shahid Khan

Shahid Rafiq Khan was born on July 18, 1950 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, to a middle-class Punjabi Muslim family involved in the construction industry. His father, Rafiq Khan, owned a shop that sold survey and drawing equipment, while his mother Zakia Khan was a professor of mathematics. When he went to the United States, Khan spent his first night in a $2/night room at the university YMCA, and graduated from the Grainger College of Engineering with a BSc in industrial engineering in 1971. He was later awarded the Mechanical Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999. == 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, Khan 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. In 1980, Khan bought Flex-N-Gate from his former employer Charles Gleason Butzow, bringing Bumper Works into the fold. The company grew under him, so that it supplied bumpers for the Big Three automakers. In 1984, Khan 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. Since then, the company has grown from $17 million in sales to an estimated $2 billion in 2010 to $8.89 billion in 2020. Its operation in Sandusky, Ohio, is one of the largest automotive light manufacturing plants in the United States. 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. It is also ranked by Automotive News as the seventh 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. Before the 2012 NFL draft, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and other environmentalist groups organized a protest campaign for several accusations against Flex-N-Gate and Khan. == 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. On November 29, 2011, Khan agreed to purchase the Jacksonville Jaguars from Wayne Weaver and his ownership group subject to NFL approval. 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. The purchase price was $770 million. The NFL owners unanimously approved the purchase on December 14, 2011. The sale was finalized on January 4, 2012, making Khan the first member of an ethnic minority to own an NFL team. Khan is a board member of the NFL Foundation. He is one of three NFL team owners born outside of the United States, 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. An official purchase price for the club was not announced with him stating that it was "highly confidential". 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). Tony Khan is also the President and CEO of the promotion. On April 24, 2024, Khan made his on-screen debut, coming out to the ring after his son was attacked (as part of a story angle) by Jack Perry and The Young Bucks. Black News Channel Khan was the majority shareholder in Black News Channel throughout the network's two-year existence. == Personal life ==

game (October 2016). Khan is a cultural Muslim. 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. They have two children together, a daughter named Shanna and a son, Tony. Khan became a naturalized American citizen in 1991. and an apartment in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. He owned the superyacht Kismet until he sold it to Eric Schmidt in September 2023, who renamed it to Whisper. Khan built a new, larger superyacht in 2024 with the same Kismet name. Political views In 2016, Khan supported the Republican Party and Donald Trump's presidential campaign. He was among the NFL team owners who donated to Trump for his inauguration fund. Nevertheless, he later voiced support for Trump's economic policies while reassuring his opposition to Trump's social policies. In July 2019, Khan met Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and stated that he is "the best thing that’s happened to Pakistan". == 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. == Notes ==