STAR TV

Founded by Cem Uzan and Ahmet Özal in 1989 as Magic Box, Star TV is Turkey's first private TV channel. It started broadcasting in September 1990. There was much criticism regarding its violation of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s constitutional monopoly. In 2004, it was seized by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey (TMSF) and sold to Doğan Group for 306,5 million dollars. It was acquired by Doğuş Group in 2011.

Key facts

Audience Share

4.97

Ownership Type

Private

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

Free content

Data Publicly Available

ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

2 ♥

Media Companies / Groups

Doğuş Group

Ownership

Voting Rights

According to Article 434 of Turkish Commercial Code, shareholders in corporations ('Anonim Şirket’) use their voting rights in proportion with their shares’ nominal value. Each shareholder has at least one vote, however voting rights might be limited, or given more weight with articles of association. Moreover, public companies may issue shares without voting rights according to Article 14/A of Capital Markets Law.

Individual Owner

Filiz Şahenk

30.3%

Deniz Şahenk

17.1%

Ferit Faik Şahenk

32.3%

Media Companies / Groups

Doğuş Group

Facts

General Information

Founding Year

1990

Founder

Tevfik Ahmet Özal, Cem Uzan

Affiliated Interests Founder

Tevfik Ahmet Özal, born in 1955, is a Turkish politician and the son of former President and Prime Minister Turgut Özal. He’s a graduate of North Carolina State University’s Department of Economics. He has co-founded Uzan and Özal Groups; served as a Specialist Economist in ‘Industry, Investment and Credit Bank’ and in the IMF for three years. He worked at various international branches of American Express Bank between 1983 and 1988. In 1989, along with businessperson Cem Uzan, he founded Star TV, Turkey's first private TV channel. There was much controversy over the private channel, given it violated the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s constitutional monopoly. In 1992, Özal founded Chanel 6, which he sold in 1998. On April 12, 1999, he was elected to the Cabinet as an independent Member of Parliament from the province of Malatya. He was a candidate for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor in 2009. He founded a party in 2014 (Ana Parti) which joined with another party and was renamed Hak ve Adalet Ana Parti in 2015. He was a Saadet Partisi candidate during the June 2016 elections but wasn’t elected.

Cem Uzan, born in 1960, is a businessperson and politician known for co-founding the first private television channel in Turkey and for his subsequent foray into politics. Uzan’s father made his fortune in the construction industry. Over the years, the family’s various business holdings grew, coming to include a soccer team, several media outlets and banks, along with other assets in construction, energy and finance. Cem Uzan played an active role in the family businesses and, in 2002, founded Genç Parti (GP; Young Party). Uzan and his family also became infamous for being involved in many lawsuits: In 2003, after a scandal related to a family owned bank, the Turkish government seized many of Uzans’ companies, including Telsim, to collect the family’s debt. In 2009, Uzan fled Turkey and claimed political asylum from France after new charges of fraud, forgery, embezzlement and other crimes were leveled against him in regard to his business dealings. In 2010, he was sentenced to 23 years in jail, later some charges were dropped.

Ceo

Ferit Faik Şahenk

Affiliated Interests Ceo

Ferit Şahenk, the son of Ayhan Şahenk, is the chairperson of Doğus Holding A.Ş., which operates in media, tourism, and construction. He was also the CEO of Garanti Garanti Bank, one of the biggest banks in Turkey until he sold the last 9.95% stakes in Garanti to the Spanish lender BBVA Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in February 2017. Ferit Sahenk is one of the richest people in the country. Forbes estimates his assets at 2.5 billion. He founded Garanti Securities and was a CEO of Doğuş Holding and the chairperson of Doğuş Otomotiv. Apart from being an active member of the World Economic Forum, he previously chaired various business councils, including the Turkish-German Business Council, Turkish-American Business Council and the Turkish-United Arab Emirates Business Council. He graduated from Boston College with Bachelor’s in Marketing and Human Resources.

Editor-In-Chief

Nermin Yurteri

Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief

Nermin Yurteri, NTV's General Manager, was appointed as the General Manager of Star TV, replacing Çağatay Önal.

Other Important People

Hüsnü Akhan

A graduate of METU from the Department of Business Administration, he received his MA in Economics from University of Miami. He joined Doğuş Group in 1994. After serving as the Executive VP responsible for Treasury, Operations and Foreign Relations at Garanti Bank, he was assigned as the General Manager of Körfezbank in 1998. Akhan was a board member of Doğuş Holding and CFO during 2001-2005. He is the vice chair of board of directors of Doğuş Holding.