Click here to see the richest Asian Americans No. 9 to No. 5
#4. Shahid Khan
Founder, Flex-N-Gate / Owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars
Net worth: $2.9 billion
World ranking: #490
U.S. ranking: #163
Age: 62
Source of Wealth: Auto parts, self-made
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of Illinois at Urbana
Background: The Pakistan-born Khan came to the United States for the first time at age 16 to attend college.
Shahid Khan may have endured a rough 2-14 season as rookie owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, but his main business, auto parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, is thriving with 2012 sales of $3.9 billion, up from $3.4 billion. The Pakistan-born Khan came to the U.S. for the first time at age 16 for college. After getting an engineering degree from the University of Illinois, Khan eventually designed…
#3. Roger Wang
Chairman, Golden Eagle Int’l Group
Net worth: $3.8 billion
World ranking: #353
U.S. ranking: #108
Age: 64
Source of Wealth: Retail, self-made
Education: M.B.A., Southeastern Louisiana University
Background: Wang was born in China, grew up in Taiwan and went to college at Chinese Culture University before heading to graduate school in the United States.
Roger Wang chairs the Golden Eagle International Group, which in turn is the majority owner of Hong Kong-listed retailer Golden Eagle Retail Group. The company operates middle- to high-end malls in China, concentrated in the prosperous Jiangsu Province. Sales will increase to $3.1 billion this year from $2.6 billion last year helped by store expansion, according to a projection by Citibank. Wang was…
#2. Jin Sook & Do Won Chang
Founders, Forever 21
Net worth: $4.5 billion
World ranking: #276
U.S. ranking: #84
Age: 58
Source of Wealth: Retail, self-made
Background: Immigrants from South Korea.
Founders of fast fashion retailer Forever 21, Do Won (Don) Chang and his wife Jin Sook immigrated to America from Korea in 1981. Chang initially held three jobs at once, doing janitorial work, pumping gas and working in a coffee shop. He and his wife opened their first clothing store in 1984. Today Forever 21 operates more than 480 stores including its first store in France, which opened in January…
#1. Patrick Soon-Shiong
Net worth: $8 billion
World ranking: #145
U.S. ranking: #48
Age: 61
Source of Wealth: Pharmaceuticals, self-made
Education: Master of Science, University of British Columbia; Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of Witwatersrand; Medical Doctor, University of Witwatersrand
Background: Born in South Africa, graduated medical school and did internship there. Moved to Canada, received master’s degree from University of British Columbia. He then moved to the United States where he initiated his surgical training at UCLA and became a board-certified surgeon.
South African-born surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong built and then sold two successful drug companies. In 2011 he founded NantWorks, a company that is attempting to revolutionize three industries–health care, digital entertainment and commerce–using science, supercomputing, voice recognition and low-power semiconductors. The company is working on new cancer therapies. It is also working on an app that…
