Murat Ulker

Murat Ülker is a Turkish billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Yıldız Holding, the largest food company in the CEEMEA Region. Yıldız owns businesses including Godiva Chocolatier, pladis, and Sok.

• Murat Ulker runs Yildiz Holding, which produces a wide range of food products and non-alcoholic beverages.
• Yildiz spent $850 million to buy Belgian chocolatier Godiva in 2007 and $3.2 billion to buy United Biscuits of the U.K. in 2014.
• To establish a more global structure, he merged United Biscuit, Ulker Biscuit and DeMet’s Candy under the roof of London-based Pladis Foods.
• In early 2019, Godiva announced the sale of parts of its Asia-Pacific business, along with a production facility in Belgium, to PE firm MBK Partners.
• Ulker plans to use some of the proceeds from the sale to expand Godiva’s cafe business from 20 stores to more than 2,000 globally by 2025.