How Did Turkcell’s Founder Mehmet Emin Karamehmet Go Bankrupt?

Decisions made, steps taken and more In the story of the sinking of Karamehmet It is located.

After embarking on a path of believing in technology, in 2000 29th richest person in the world What happened to Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, who was also…

Mobile phone technology was just emerging and Karamehmet did not miss this opportunity.

One day, an entrepreneur operating on a mobile phone in Sweden To Murat Vargı, founder of MV Holding He wrote a letter and told her about his mobile phone. Of course, at that time there was neither a mobile phone nor a network in Turkey.

Vargı evaluated the entrepreneur’s offer to establish a mobile phone company and since he did not have enough money, he first went to Koç and then to Sabancı Holding, but did not accept the offer. next There was Çukurova Holding.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Çukurova Holding Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, He accepted the offer and founded Turkcell with Vargı in 1994. The continuation of the communication network has arrived. After Turkcell’s listing on the American stock market Superonline and Digiturk was established.

Karamehmet was also the boss of many companies.

Even though Çukurova Holding is behind it, Karamehmet Pamukbank and Yapı Kredi Bank He was also his boss. In addition to being Caterpillar’s distributor in Türkiye, he was also a shipowner. And all this Turkey’s richest man made it happen.

The crisis of the banking sector also affected him.

Karamehmet was also affected by one of the country’s biggest economic crises, which caused banks to begin to fail. First Pamukbank and then Yapı Kredi Bank also got their share of the trouble. Then as you can guess SDIF seized both banks.

There was an allegation. According to this claim, Karamehmet owned He used banks as safes. After SDIF’s investigations, he was issued a debt of 4.20 billion dollars from both banks.

Karamehmet needed fresh money for the debt.

This debt also affected Turkcell. After Turkcell was listed on the stock market, of course, the partners were not just Karamehmet and Vargı. Karamehmet went to Alfa Group in Russia. Alfa was already trying to become a shareholder of Turkcell. Karamehmet from the meeting with 1.7 billion dollars When he returned, he left his shares as collateral.

between partners Swedish Sonera Holding He opposed this work. Because according to the contract, they had priority in the share transfer. Afterwards, the matter ended up in the courts. If there was a general assembly meeting, perhaps both the Russians and the Swedes would benefit from this.

However, with the help of the state, that meeting did not happen. When the Board of Directors was overthrown, of course, in return, those who were close to the government entered the board of directors and Turkcell came under state management.

The debt to the Russians caused him to lose his title of “richest”.

In order not to lose Turkcell shares, Karamehmet 1.6 billion dollar loan from Ziraat Bank pulled. This debt, like the debt to the Russians, could not be paid. As such, Ziraat Bank General Manager Hüseyin Aydın became a member of the board of directors instead. Thus, he lost his shares.

Mehmet Emin Karamahmet, who believed in the future of technology, jumped up the steps of wealth in a very short time, while his fall was just as rapid. When we look at the 100 richest families of Turkey announced in 2023, we see that 48th place We saw.

In this process, professional managers and failure to comply with warnings Therefore, it is among the things said about Karamehmet that he prepared for its sinking.

From sinking to sinking: