‘From Washing Dishes for $1.20/hr to $13.7 Billion Empire’: Jaguars Owner Shad Khan’s Incredible Success Story

Unlike many NFL owners, such as Jerry Jones or Jimmy Haslam, who were born into privilege and wealth, Shad Khan’s path to owning the Jacksonville Jaguars has been one of grit, struggle, and a relentless chase of the American Dream.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1950, Khan immigrated to the Unite d States in 1967 at just 16 years old. With only $500 in his pocket, no family by his side, and little idea of what awaited, he started his life in America at a YMCA, paying $2 a night for a bed.

In those tough circumstances, survival was all that mattered until a bigger chance came along. To get by, he washed dishes for $1.20 an hour while attending high school.

After finishing school, Khan enrolled at the University of Illinois to study engineering, a decision that would shape his future. Around that time, he also picked up a job at a small auto parts company called Flex-N-Gate.

And as it turned out, what began as a student gig would, within a decade, become the foundation of his empire. In 1980, Khan bought the company and eventually grew it into a global powerhouse employing more than 27,000 people.

The success of Flex-N-Gate became the backbone of Khan’s fortune, now worth more than $13.7 billion.

But Khan’s ambitions stretched far beyond car parts. He fell in love with football soon after arriving in America, and that passion eventually turned into a dream of owning an NFL team.

This dream nearly became a reality in 2010 when he tried to purchase the St. Louis Rams, only to be outbid by Stan Kroenke at the last minute. Undeterred, Khan struck the deal of his lifetime in 2011, buying the Jacksonville Jaguars for $770 million and, in the process, making history as the first non-white owner in NFL history.

Under Khan’s stewardship, the Jaguars have been repositioned as a global franchise. They have played more international games than any other NFL team, a natural extension of their owner’s broader sports empire, which includes Fulham FC in the Premier League and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the wrestling promotion he co-founded with his son, Tony Khan.