Murat Ülker (born 1959) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, and the chairman of

Yıldız Holding Yıldız Holding is a Turkish conglomerate that is best known for manufacturing food products. The company also produces other consumer goods and has its own retail, private equity and real estate operations. Yıldız Holding is among the larg ...

, the largest food company in the CEEMEA Region (Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa). Yıldız owns businesses including

Godiva Chocolatier Godiva Chocolatier (; ) is a Belgian-based international chocolate maker which is owned by Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding Founded in 1926, it was purchased by Turkish Yıldız Holding in November 2007. In 2019, South Korean private equity ...

pladis Pladis Global (styled as pladis) is a British confectionery and snack foods company encompassing United Biscuits, Ülker, Godiva Chocolatier and DeMet’s Candy Company. It was formed in January 2016 as a subsidiary of Yıldız Holding with its ...

, and Sok.

Early life and education

Murat Ülker was born to Sabri Ülker and Güzide İman on 21 March 1959 in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey. He attended high school at İstanbul Erkek Lisesi and graduated from

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and tw ...

with a degree in business administration. In 1982, he studied abroad at the American Institute of Baking (AIB) and Zentralfachschule der Deutschen Süßwarenwirtschaft (ZDS) and trained at

Continental Baking Company The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company. His ...

in the United States. He also worked on various

International Executive Service Corps International Executive Service Corps is an international economic development not-for-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C. IESC was founded in 1964 by David Rockefeller, States M. Mead III, Frank Pace, Sol Linowitz, and other ...

projects.

Career

In 1984, Ülker joined the Ülker Group, part of

, as a control coordinator. Over the following years, he served as assistant general manager for enterprises, and later, as general manager. In 2000, Ülker became the CEO of Yıldız Holding, before becoming its chairman in 2008. Under his chairmanship, Yıldız Holding expanded its business and made several acquisitions including GODIVA Chocolatier in 2008 and United Biscuits in 2014. In 2016, Yildiz formed a new global business, pladis, by bringing together three of its brands: Ülker, United Biscuits, and DeMet’s Candy Company.

Philanthropy

In 2009, the Ülker family established the Sabri Ulker Foundation to make a lasting contribution to public health around the areas of food and nutrition. In 2014, the Ülker family contributed $24 million to Harvard University. The funding, distributed over 10 years, was provided to establish The Sabri Ülker Center for Nutrient, Genetic, and Metabolic Research at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The center addresses chronic and complex diseases to help millions of people with illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Personal life

Ülker is married, with three children, and lives in Istanbul. He is an art collector. In 2012, Ülker sponsored the retrospective art exhibition "Fifty Years of Urban Walls" at Istanbul Modern which attracted 215,000 visitors with 120 works by

Burhan Dogançay Burhan ( ar, برهان, ) is an Arabic male name, an epithet of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is especially popular in Turkey, as it respects Turkish vowel harmony and the end syllable "-han" can be interpreted as the Turkish variant of " K ...

. Ülker aided in the foundation of the Ülkerspor basketball club in 1993, which later became Fenerbahçe Ülker. The club has won the league championship four times, the Presidential Cup six times, and the Turkish Cup three times. Ülkerspor also reached the quarterfinals of the FIBA European Champions Cup as well as the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

. Ülker purchased the naming rights of the Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium for ten years. He has also sponsored the Ülker Sports Arena. Ülker previously supported other football clubs as well, but later withdrew his sponsorship. In 2018, Ülker was named the richest businessperson in Turkey with a net worth of $4.8 billion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulker, Murat 1959 births Living people Businesspeople from Istanbul Turkish billionaires Turkish people of Crimean Tatar descent Boğaziçi University alumni