Uzbekistan’s foreign trade expands 16% y/y in Jan–April to $24.6bn
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Ugur Sahin, owner of BioNTech (Nasdaq/BNTX), has been ranked second in Forbes Turkey’s Top 100 Richest Turks 2025 list, released on May 6.
Sahin was born in 1965 in Turkey’s Hatay province on the Syrian border. At the age of four, he moved to Germany with his parents.
Sahin’s wife and business partner Ozlem Tureci is also a Turk. But she was born in Germany to a family of Turkish migrants.
The couple met at university and launched BioNTech in 2008. They became wealthy thanks to a COVID-19 vaccine.
$129bn in combined wealth
The previous Top 100 Richest Turks list was released in 2020. The first list was published in 2005.
Table: Top 100 Richest Turks 2025.
Forbes regularly releases global billionaire rankings. However, Forbes Turkey had not released a richest Turks ranking, which includes millionaires.
In the 2025 ranking, a total of 108 Turks were listed. Some share a ranking on the table. The combined wealth of the 108 was estimated at $128.5bn.
In the 2020 ranking, there were 199 Turks with a combined wealth of $100bn.
US defence players
Owners of Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the Eren and Fatih Ozmen couple, were ranked fourth and fifth with a combined wealth of $8bn.
Newcomers
Safi Holding boss Hakan Safi, Gulermak Agir Sanayi Insaat (GLRMK) boss Kemal Tahir Guleryuz, Gen Ilac (GENIL) boss Abidin Gulmus and Ahlatci Holding boss Ahmet Ahlatci are the newcomers in the 2025 ranking.
Kazim Koseoglu and Can Koseoglu, grandsons of Sevket Sabanci, a member of the Sabanci family, were also included in the latest ranking.
Balsu Gida (BALSU) boss Cuneyd Zapsu, Altinay Savunma (ALTNY) boss Hakan Altinay and CW Enerji (CWENE) boss Tarzan Tarik Sarvan are candidates to join the next ranking, Forbes Turkey noted.
Richest Turks get richer, not so rich Turks lose wealth
In the Global 500 Family Business Index for 2025, Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding (KCHOL), owned by the Koc family, for the first time made the top 20.
In the Forbes’ Richest People In The World 2025 survey, the number of Turks fell to 35 this year from 44 in 2023.
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