Rich Pakistani-American's $112 million Luxury Yacht
By Riaz Haq
Shahid Khan, Pakistani-American owner of an NFL team, has put his luxury yacht up for sale. Asking price: $112 million.
The Pakistani-American owner of Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise owns the 223-foot Kismet, a German-made yacht built in 2007. The boat has an expansive bedroom suite, a formal dining salon, disco, teak decks, jacuzzi, sauna and gym. High-end woodwork adorns everything from a beer keg to a motorcycle hatch with crane. There's also a 25-foot Chris Craft boat, Yamaha WaveRunners and other surpasses, according to the Florida Times-Union.
The ship is listed for sale by Moran Yacht & Ship, which charters the Kismet. For those who can't afford the $112 million price, the yacht is available for $600,000 a week plus expenses for Caribbean cruises this winter.
Shahid Khan made history last year by becoming the first ever minority owner of a National Football League team. All 31 other owners of NFL teams are white. Khan paid $760 million to purchase Jacksonville Jaguars. Earlier, Khan had agreed in February 2010 to buy a controlling interest in the St. Louis Rams before billionaire Stan Kroenke exercised an option to purchase the 60 percent of the club he didn’t own.
Shahid Khan, a mechanical engineering graduate of University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, made his fortune in the auto business. Almost two-thirds of all North American-built pick- up trucks and sports utility vehicles have bumper systems based on Khan’s designs, according to figures released by the Jaguars. Khan bought Flex-N-Gate in 1980 and the company now has more than 10,000 employees at 48 manufacturing plants with annual sales exceeding $3 billion.
According to another report, Khan denied he's selling the boat to help cover the cost of buying the Jaguars. "That check has cleared. (The boat being for sale) is totally unrelated to the Jaguars," Khan told the Jacksonville Daily Record. (He also said if he had owned the Jaguars a few years ago he would have had Jacksonville select Tim Tebow.)
By the way, the Kismet's asking price ($112 million) is 34 percent more than the entire Jaguars player payroll (around $73 million) last season.
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