Murat Ülker

Murat Ülker
Murat Ülker in 2014
Murat Ülker
Born	Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Occupation	Businessperson
Title	Former Chair, Yıldız Holding
Known for	Leading Yıldız Holding and its subsidiary companies including Ülker and pladis
Education	Boğaziçi University
Spouse(s)	Betul Atasevan
Children	3
Website	[[muratulker.com muratulker.com] Official site]

Murat Ülker (born 1959) is a Turkish billionaire businessperson who served as chair of Yıldız Holding, one of the largest food and confectionery conglomerates in Turkey and the Middle East. The son of Sabri Ülker, who founded the Ülker brand in 1944, Murat Ülker expanded the family enterprise from a domestic biscuit manufacturer into a multinational corporation with operations spanning dozens of countries. Under his leadership, Yıldız Holding acquired the global biscuit and chocolate operations of United Biscuits in 2014, a landmark deal that positioned the company among the world's largest snack producers. In 2016, the international operations were consolidated under a new global brand, pladis, headquartered in London. Ülker has been ranked by Forbes as Turkey's wealthiest individual for ten consecutive years; as of the 2026 Forbes billionaires list, his net worth stood at approximately $5.5 billion, placing him among the 800 richest people in the world. Beyond his business activities, Ülker is known for philanthropic contributions in the fields of metabolic disease research and the arts.

Early Life

Murat Ülker was born in 1959 in Istanbul, Turkey, to Sabri Ülker and Güzide İman. His father, Sabri Ülker, had founded the Ülker biscuit company in 1944, building it over several decades into one of Turkey's best-known consumer brands. Murat grew up within a family deeply embedded in the Turkish food industry, and the trajectory of his life was shaped by the expanding family enterprise from an early age.

According to an account on the Sabri Ülker biography website, Murat once asked his father about their family origins. Sabri Ülker told him that the family identified as "Evlad-ı Fatihan," a term used historically for descendants of Ottoman soldiers who settled in the Balkans, and that they had Tatar roots — a story Sabri himself had heard from his own father.

The Ülker family maintained a strong connection between their domestic life and the business. In one account, Murat Ülker recalled that his father granted permission for the establishment of Ülkerspor, the company's sports club, on the condition that it achieve championship success — reflecting the elder Ülker's high expectations and competitive ethos.

Education

Murat Ülker attended Istanbul High School (İstanbul Lisesi) for his secondary education. He then enrolled at Boğaziçi University, one of Turkey's most selective and prestigious universities, where he completed his undergraduate studies.

Ülker further pursued specialized training in the food industry abroad. He attended the American Institute of Baking (AIB) in the United States, gaining technical knowledge in baking science and food production management. He also studied at Die Süßwaren-Akademie (the Confectionery Academy) in Germany, a specialized institution focused on confectionery technology and production. These international educational experiences equipped him with technical expertise that complemented his business acumen as he prepared to take on expanding responsibilities within the family company.

Career

Growth of the Ülker Group

Murat Ülker joined the family business and gradually assumed greater responsibility within what would become Yıldız Holding, the parent company overseeing the Ülker brand and its associated enterprises. Under the founding generation led by Sabri Ülker, the company had established itself as Turkey's leading biscuit and chocolate manufacturer. Murat Ülker's generation expanded the scope and scale of operations considerably, diversifying into new product categories and geographic markets.

The Ülker brand became synonymous with confectionery and packaged food products across Turkey and the broader Middle Eastern market. The company's portfolio grew to include biscuits, chocolate, cakes, beverages, dairy products, and other consumer goods. Yıldız Holding, as the umbrella organization, came to encompass numerous subsidiary brands and production facilities.

Acquisition of United Biscuits and International Expansion

The most transformative deal of Murat Ülker's career came in November 2014, when Yıldız Holding acquired United Biscuits, the British snack food company whose brands included McVitie's, Godiva (previously acquired), and other well-known names in European markets. The acquisition, reportedly valued at approximately £2 billion, made Yıldız Holding one of the three largest biscuit and confectionery companies in the world and marked the largest overseas acquisition by a Turkish company at the time.

This acquisition brought together the Turkish Ülker brands, the British McVitie's and other United Biscuits products, and the Belgian chocolate brand Godiva, which Yıldız Holding had previously acquired in 2007 from Campbell Soup Company.

Formation of pladis

In 2016, Murat Ülker oversaw the consolidation of Yıldız Holding's international snack and confectionery operations under a new global company called pladis, headquartered in London. The pladis entity brought together McVitie's, Godiva, Ülker, and other brands under a single operational umbrella designed to compete more effectively in global markets.

In a January 2018 statement, Murat Ülker addressed the relationship between Ülker and pladis, clarifying the corporate structure and the strategic rationale for maintaining distinct domestic and international operations. The formation of pladis represented a significant step in the internationalization of what had been a predominantly Turkish enterprise, giving the group a multinational platform with operations in numerous countries.

Forbes Rankings and Wealth

Murat Ülker has been consistently ranked as the wealthiest individual in Turkey by Forbes. According to the Forbes 2025 billionaires list, he retained his position at the top for the ninth consecutive year, with a net worth estimated at $5.5 billion. The 2026 Forbes list confirmed that Ülker remained Turkey's richest person, extending his streak at the top of the national wealth rankings to a tenth consecutive year.

His wealth is derived primarily from his stake in Yıldız Holding and its subsidiaries, which include some of the world's most widely distributed biscuit, chocolate, and confectionery brands. Forbes has listed him among the world's roughly 800 richest people as of 2026.

Turkish media outlets covering the Forbes rankings have placed Ülker's position in the context of the broader Turkish economy, noting the presence of multiple Turkish billionaires drawn from diverse sectors including energy, retail, and manufacturing.

Interest in Football

Murat Ülker's name surfaced in British media in connection with English football. Reports in 2017 explored his profile in the context of potential investment interest in Newcastle United F.C., with British publications such as the Mirror and ChronicleLive publishing backgrounders on Ülker and his business empire. These reports detailed his position as one of the world's wealthiest individuals and his control of Yıldız Holding's extensive portfolio.

Separately, within Turkey, the Ülker brand had long been involved in sports sponsorship. Murat Ülker's decision at one point to withdraw from certain sponsorship activities was covered by Turkish financial media.

Controversies

In December 2023, the Nordic Monitor reported that Murat Ülker had been the subject of multiple terrorism investigations by Turkish authorities between 2017 and subsequent years. According to the report, these investigations were part of a broader government campaign that involved legal proceedings against various prominent business figures. The report framed the investigations in the context of what it described as government efforts related to asset seizure. No publicly documented convictions resulting from these investigations have been reported in the available sources.

Personal Life

Murat Ülker is married to Betul Atasevan, and the couple has three children. The family has described its domestic life in relation to the business, with Ülker at one point stating that maintaining family traditions was important to him — a sentiment he characterized as part of the family's approach.

Ülker's father, Sabri Ülker, who founded the original biscuit business in 1944, remained a significant figure in both the family and company narrative. The elder Ülker's legacy has been preserved through various institutional and philanthropic initiatives bearing his name.

Murat Ülker maintains a personal website where he shares information about his background and perspectives.

Philanthropy

Sabri Ülker Center at Harvard

One of Murat Ülker's most prominent philanthropic contributions was a $24 million gift to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which led to the creation of the Sabri Ülker Center for Metabolic Research. Named in honor of his father, the center was inaugurated in 2014 and supports research in nutrition, genetics, and metabolic health, housed within the Department of Molecular Metabolism under the direction of Professor Gökhan Hotamışlıgil.

The Sabri Ülker Center has conducted pioneering research in the intersection of nutrition and metabolic disease, contributing to understanding of conditions such as diabetes and obesity at the molecular level.

Support for the Arts

Murat Ülker has also been involved in supporting cultural institutions in Turkey. He served as a sponsor of Istanbul Modern, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art. Columnist Gila Benmayor of the Hürriyet Daily News discussed the significance of Ülker's sponsorship of Istanbul Modern, highlighting the role of private sector support in sustaining cultural institutions in Turkey.

Istanbul Modern, which has hosted exhibitions and cultural events drawing international attention, acknowledged the support of sponsors in making its programming possible.

Gastronomy Education

In 2025, Turkish media reported on Ülker's involvement in a donation connected to Gastronomy High Schools (Gastronomi Liseleri), an initiative launched with the involvement of Emine Erdoğan. Ülker's financial contribution to this educational initiative received significant media attention in Turkey.

Legacy

Murat Ülker's career represents the transformation of a single-product Turkish family business into one of the world's largest food and confectionery conglomerates. The Ülker brand, founded by his father Sabri Ülker in 1944 as a biscuit manufacturer in Istanbul, grew under Murat's leadership into a global enterprise encompassing some of the most recognized names in the confectionery and snack industries, including McVitie's, Godiva, and the Ülker brand itself.

The 2014 acquisition of United Biscuits was a watershed event not only for the company but for Turkish business more broadly, as it represented one of the largest overseas acquisitions by a Turkish firm. The subsequent creation of pladis in 2016 as a London-headquartered global platform signaled the ambition to compete at the highest levels of the international food industry.

His philanthropic activities, particularly the $24 million gift establishing the Sabri Ülker Center at Harvard, represent a notable example of Turkish private-sector investment in international scientific research.

As of 2026, Ülker remains the wealthiest individual in Turkey and one of the most prominent business figures in the country's modern economic history. His ten consecutive years atop the Forbes Turkey rich list underscore the sustained scale and profitability of the enterprise he led.