Shah Rukh Khan, The Businessman
We’ve talked about people from a lot of different professions in this series, football stars, tennis legends, cricketers, actors and even YouTubers. Let’s get back to actors, and among them, someone who’s lovingly dubbed “King Khan”.
Shah Rukh Khan had very humble beginnings and has made himself into an icon by working in the acting industry for more than 30 years. He’s famous for his charm and wit apart from the acting prowess and seems to be among the biggest superstars the country, and the world has ever seen.
But what you might not know is that he’s also a very sharp businessman. His net worth from a simple Google search comes out to be around $700 million, or somewhere near Rs 5500 crores. His house in Bandra, Mumbai itself is worth around Rs 200 crores. So how did he amass such vast wealth? Let’s look at some of his ventures.
Active Income
He earns in the tens of crores for every major film he acts according to reports. And the kicker here is that he has been letting that money make more money through the investments we’re going to talk about.
Red Chillies Entertainment
SRK launched this production company in 2002 along with his wife, and it has added majorly to his success. In the 20 years plus of its run, the company produced a lot of films, and many of them have been hits too. The studio also has a lot of high-tech creative tools, among them a well-equipped VFX studio.
The actor also owns a stake in the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders through this company, which holds a 55% stake in the team. Forbes estimated the value of the team at $1.1 billion, which own the coveted title in 2012 and 2014.
Brand Endorsements
Being a very well-known figure in India, it is obvious that SRK would be the face of a number of brands trying to penetrate the Indian market. He has been associated with or been the ambassador of some brands like Lux, DishTV, FoodPanda, Denver, Lux and Fair & Handsome. His being the brand ambassador for Dubai Tourism since 2016 is also a testament to his international reach.
Car and Watch Collection
While most cars and watches in the world lose value after you walk out from the store, stuff from luxury and uber luxury brands actually do not lose much value and maybe even gain value with time (so these can act as investments, plus, it’s definitely nice to have nice things), simply because of the quality and pedigree of these luxury brands and the limited number of products created by them.
SRK has a Rs 31 crore collection of cars with cars from Bentley, Rolls Royce and Bugatti too according to reports. He’s also been seen wearing watches worth lakhs of rupees and the complete collection would definitely run into the crores.
Philanthropy
We’ve been talking about money but it is important to consider that the actor does not only spends on himself and loved ones, he is very much into giving back. He has been working on government campaigns to raise awareness against Polio and AIDS. He has also worked with or been facilitated by UNESCO, UNOPS and WEF. He also has a foundation name “Meer Foundation” which helped the government with healthcare kits during the pandemic in 2020.
All said and done, we’ve seen again and again that the kind of wealth “King Khan” has, is created by working relentlessly and being at the top of your game. While it is true that Bollywood is a good place to work in if you want to make money, it is very difficult to go to the top there. And to stay there for decades is a whole different game. This shows that earning a good chunk for yourself also requires that you choose a suitable career to be able to do so. If you have dreams of earning crores and have chosen a career where that possibility seems far-fetched, maybe it’s time to reconsider some choices.
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