Rank #246
Hamdi Ulukaya
Net worth $12.7B
Greek yogurt · Turkey
- Born
- Oct 26, 1972
- Age
- 53
- Source
- Greek yogurt
- Residence
- Norwich, New York
- Citizenship
- Turkey
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 0
- Education
- Master of Business Administration, SUNY Albany
Net worth over time
Biography
- Hamdi Ulukaya, known as the yogurt king, is the founder of America's most popular Greek yogurt brand, Chobani.
- Ulukaya grew up in a Kurdish dairy-farming family in Turkey and raised sheep. He eventually left to study political science at Ankara University.
- He immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 to study English in upstate New York, an area that reminded him of the small farming villages in Eastern Turkey.
- With a loan from the Small Business Administration, he bought an old yogurt plant there in 2005 and developed a recipe inspired by his heritage.
- He started selling his yogurt in 2007; in 2023, Chobani pulled in more than $2 billion in sales.
- In January 2018, Ulukaya married Louise Vongerichten, daughter of world-renowned French chef Jean Georges Vongerichten. The couple welcomed a son later that year.
- Refugees and immigrants, who make up 30% Chobani's workforce, are offered English language classes as well as translators in up to 11 languages.