Imran Khan (businessman)

Bangladeshi-American technology executive

Imran Khan

Born|  (1977-06-16) June 16, 1977 (age 47)

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Nationality| Bangladeshi
American
Education|

* University of Denver
* Dhaka College
* Government Laboratory High School, Dhaka

Occupations|

* Tech executive
* Tech investor
* Entrepreneur

Known for| Leading Alibaba Group IPO, leading Snap IPO
Title| Former Chief Strategy Officer of Snap Inc. (Since 2015)

Imran Khan (born 1977) is a technology executive,[1] entrepreneur and investor.[2] He is the Chief Strategy Officer of the American multinational technology and social media company Snap Inc.,[3] where he helped lead the company to IPO as well as build up the operation, sales, expand business partnerships and manage overall corporate strategy.[4] Before joining Snap Inc. in 2015, Khan was the head of global internet investment banking at Credit Suisse where he had a leading role on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's IPO, the largest share sale ever.[5]

## Early life and education

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An immigrant from Bangladesh, Khan finished his high school from The Government Laboratory High School, Dhaka(1994). Then he passed H.S.C. from Dhaka College in 1996. He was a renowned debater during his college life. He moved to Colorado as a student. In 2000, he received his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Economics from the University of Denver.[5]

## Career

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### Early career

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Khan began his career at WildBlue, a Denver-based satellite-broadband startup. Shortly after, he joined ING Barings in New York then, when its banking business was sold to ABN Amro, Khan joined Fulcrum Global Partners where he conducted “sell-side” research on technology companies.[6]

### JPMorgan and Credit Suisse

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In 2004, Khan was hired by JPMorgan as a researcher and eventually became head of global internet and US entertainment equity research. While at JPMorgan, Khan was ranked the second best internet analyst by Institutional Investor’s annual rankings of researchers.[5]

After six years with JPMorgan, in 2011, Khan joined Credit Suisse, where he took over the company's internet banking franchise and has been credited for raising the company's stature in tech banking.[7] As the firm's head internet banker, Khan is known for his leading role on the $25 billion Alibaba IPO, the largest ever share sale.[8] He also worked on the IPOs of American companies like Groupon, GoDaddy and Box, as well as Chinese companies including Weibo, Jumei and Toudu.[5]

While at Credit Suisse, Khan identified China as "the future of the Internet business" due to its young demographic and limited adoption of the Internet at the time.[9] When Khan was hired at Credit Suisse, the company was already in discussions with Alibaba, a deal that Khan helped win due to prior relationships he had with the Chinese company.[9]

### Snap Inc.

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Khan joined Snapchat in 2015 as Chief Strategy Officer[5] where he directs the company's corporate strategy, including building up operations, expanding business partnerships, running ad sales and leading the company to its planned IPO.[10] In his first 30 months at Snap Inc., he helped grow revenue from $0 to $728 million.[11] He also helped secure a $200 million investment in Snapchat from Alibaba in 2015 as well as an additional $1.8 billion in funding in 2016.[7]

In 2016, Khan was named one of the Most Indispensable Executives in Marketing, Media and Tech by advertising trade magazine Adweek in its annual Adweek 50 List. Adweek noted that it chose Khan due to his work growing Snapchat including opening new offices for Snapchat; making several executive hires; and launching Snapchat Partners.[12]

In March 2017, Snap Inc. went public,[13] with the company reaching a market cap high of $34 billion within two days of its IPO.[14]

## References

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1. ^ Oreskovic, Alexei (August 11, 2017). "A Wall Street analyst's 'hot mic' upstaged Snapchat's CEO and stole the show". Business Insider. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
2. ^ "Here Are the Most Indispensable Executives in Marketing, Media and Tech". Adweek. November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
3. ^ Heath, Alex (August 10, 2017). "Snap misses across the board for Q2 earnings, stock gets whacked". Business Insider. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
4. ^ Ingram, David (November 7, 2017). "Snapchat launches redesign as growth disappoints Wall Street". Reuters. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
5. ^ a b c d e Crowe, Portia (February 3, 2017). "How Imran Khan swapped Wall Street for a huge role at Snapchat and earned $150 million in 2 years". Business Insider. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
6. ^ Sharma, Ravi (February 6, 2017). "Meet Imran Khan, the Bangladesh-Born Strategist Who Will Make $145 Million With Snap Inc. IPO". Gadgets 360. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
7. ^ a b Shao, Heng. "Snapchat CSO Imran Khan Was Key To $200 Million Investment By Alibaba". Forbes. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
8. ^ Sherry, Benjamin (November 8, 2017). "Top 3 Snap Inc. Shareholders (SNAP)". Investopedia. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
9. ^ a b Demos, Telis; Rusli, Evelyn (June 9, 2014). "Credit Suisse Makes Comeback to Tech IPOs". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
10. ^ Weissbrot, Alison (November 7, 2017). "Snap's Programmatic Adoption Skyrockets, But Its CPMs Plummet". AdExchanger. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
11. ^ Bhattacharya, Ananya (May 10, 2017). "Snapchat can't make its $2.2 billion first-quarter loss disappear fast enough". Quartz. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
12. ^ "Here Are the Most Indispensable Executives in Marketing, Media and Tech". Retrieved January 22, 2018.
13. ^ Palmer, Annie (November 8, 2017). "Snap Shares Tank on Weak Earnings: Top 3 Takeaways From Its Investor Call". TheStreet. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
14. ^ Huston, Caitlin (March 3, 2017). "Snap shares soar in debut after largest IPO since 2014". Market Watch. Retrieved October 31, 2017.

## External links

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* Imran Khan on Twitter