Abdul Rahman Bukhatir is an Emirati

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

media entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

administrator. He is the founder of Bukhatir Group which has business interests in construction, education, information technology, real estate, shopping, sports and leisure sectors. He also founded the sports TV channel

Ten Sports Sony Sports Network, formerly Sony Pictures Sports Network, and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India). The original TEN Sports chan ...

. He is known as

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

Gulf region The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...

. He was the founder of Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which aimed to benefit retired cricketers from

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. He is the father of

Nasheed A nasheed (Arabic: singular ', plural ', meaning: "chants") is a work of vocal music, partially coincident with hymns, that is either sung ''a cappella'' or with instruments, according to a particular style or tradition within Islam. Nasheed ...

singer

Ahmed Bukhatir Ahmed Bukhatir ( ar, أحمد بوخاطر; born 16 October 1975) is an Emirati Nasheed singer. Biography Ahmed Bukhatir was born in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He is the fifth of ten children. His father is Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, who beca ...

Early life

Abdul Rahman Bukhatir is born in an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

family. Bukhatir studied in BVS Parsi School in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. While studying, he was introduced to cricket by his neighbours in Karachi. When he came back to

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, he got a few like-minded people together and started playing cricket on matting wickets.

Career

Cricket patron

He transformed

Sharjah Cricket Stadium The Sharjah Cricket Stadium ( ar, ملعب الشارقة للكريكيت) is in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for the most ODIs hosted in a venue with 240 ODIs up to December 2019. It was originally constructed in t ...

, from a stadium in desert, to one of the historic and

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

-holder cricket ground. In 1981, he organised cricket match between Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI. He helped set up Al Dhaid Cricket Village. He also served as the chairman of the

Emirates Cricket Board United Arab Emirates Cricket Board is the governing body of certain cricket activities in United Arab Emirates. It is United Arab Emirates's representative at the International Cricket Council and is an Associate Member and has been a Member of t ...

Media

In January 2001, Bukhatir founded Taj Television Ltd. in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. The company launched the TV channel TEN Sports (as part of its Taj Entertainment Network), dedicated to sports on 1 April 2002. Zee Telefilms (

Essel Group Essel Group, (also known as Zee Group) is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company and corporate promoter headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and packag ...

) bought 50 percent stake in TEN Sports at an enterprise value of $114 million (800

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

) in 2006 and completely acquired it in 2010.

Awards

In February 2018, he received Lifetime Achievement Award category in the Shyam Bhatia Annual Awards.

References

{{reflist Emirati businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) Living people