Fewer Turks make it to Forbes’ billionaires list

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Murat Ülker of Yıldız Holding jumped from 463th place last year to 418th place in this year’s Forbes magazine billionaires list. Hürriyet photo

Forbes financial magazine’s 2012 list of the world’s 1,226 wealthiest billionaires includes 35 Turks, as well as a Turkish Cypriot businessman. Last year, 39 Turks made the list.

With a net worth of $3 billion, Hüsnü Özyeğin, chairman of Fiba Holding, was the highest-placed Turk on the list, despite dropping from the 317th spot last year to 377. Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, chairman of Çukurova Holding, with assets totaling $2.9 billion, dropped from 342 on the list to the 401st spot.
However, Murat Ülker, chairman of Yıldız Holding, the company that bought Godiva Chocolatier, jumped from 463 in 2011 to 418 in 2012. Rahmi Koç, owner of Koç Holding, also rose from the 616th spot to 491, while Ferit Şahenk, owner of Doğuş Holding, fell only one notch from 463 to 464.

Turkish Cypriot businessman Suat Günsel, owner of Yakındoğu University, ranked number 1,153 on the Forbes list of wealthiest billionaires. Günsel has an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

Aydın Doğan honorary chairman of Doğan Holding came in at number 1,075.

Slim nabbed the top spot

Mexico’s telecommunications giant Carlos Slim Helu ranked as the world’s wealthiest man for the third year in a row, with a net worth totaling $74 billion. American Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and American investor Warren Buffet nabbed the second and third spots respectively.

The United States was again the country with the most billionaires on the list. For the first time, this year’s list included three billionaires from Morocco. J.K. Rowling, the author of the popular Harry Potter series, was one of the names that dropped from the Forbes list this year. The list used 2011 data for its rankings.