The Koç Group, Turkey’s largest family-controlled business, is 100 years old. On 31 May 1926, Vehbi Koç registered his small Ankara business with the city’s chamber of commerce. The centenary was celebrated in Ankara, and an exhibition at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul, “Yerli Sanayi, Uluslararası İtibar” (“Domestic Industry, International Reputation”), runs until 7 February 2027.
The family has kept control for a century, through three changes of chairman, while taking in stock-market investors, foreign partners and a charity as co-owners. Three tools do the work: a listed holding company, joint ventures with foreign manufacturers, and a foundation with a minority stake.
From a grocery shop to a holding company
Vehbi Koç started trading in 1917, at 16, in a grocery shop in Ankara that he persuaded his father to open, according to the group’s history. Ankara became the Republic’s capital in 1923, and building work boomed. In 1926 he registered the business, taken over from his father, as Koçzade Ahmet Vehbi.
From 1928 he was a local agent for Ford, and he also represented Standard Oil. (Chile’s Luksic family also began with a Ford dealership; see our Luksic post.) In 1938 he merged his businesses into Koç Ticaret A.Ş. in Istanbul. After the Second World War he turned to manufacturing: a light bulb factory with General Electric opened in 1952, followed by Türk Demir Döküm in 1954, Arçelik in 1955 and, in 1959, Otosan, set up to assemble Ford vehicles.
In 1963 he put the companies under one parent, Koç Holding A.Ş., which the group calls Turkey’s first holding company. The exhibition traces this path from trade to factories to exports, from GE bulbs to Otosan cars, according to Euronews; the daily Dünya counts about 300 objects.
Three chairmen after the founder
- 1984: Vehbi Koç handed the chair to his only son, Rahmi M. Koç. The founder died in 1996.
- 4 April 2003: Rahmi’s eldest son, Mustafa V. Koç, became chairman. Rahmi, now honorary chairman, is still on the board.
- 2016: Mustafa died on 21 January, and his brother, Ömer M. Koç, took the chair. Their younger brother, Ali Y. Koç, is deputy chairman.
The family has written rules. A 2012 column in the Turkish business magazine Capital, written after a workshop where Mustafa Koç spoke, describes a written agreement to “speak with one voice”, a family committee meeting on a fixed calendar and, since 2003, a family office reporting to it. In 2016 Capital reported that a “Koç Constitution” stands in the boardroom beside a bust of Vehbi Koç. We found no public record of its date or text.
How Koç Holding works today
A holding company owns shares in other companies (see Holding Structures in Plain English). Koç Holding is itself listed on Borsa Istanbul. Its investor-relations page, checked on 18 October 2026 (the table is undated), shows this ownership:
- Koç family members and their companies: 63.4%, mostly through Family Danışmanlık Gayrimenkul ve Ticaret A.Ş. (43.7%);
- the Vehbi Koç Foundation: 7.3%;
- the Koç Holding pension fund: 2.3%;
- free float: 26.9%.
Votes and capital differ: A shares carry two votes, B shares one. Counting both, Family Danışmanlık alone holds 55.62% of the votes. Henkel’s family reaches a similar result with a voting contract instead (see our Henkel post).
Below sit the operating companies. The listed ones make up about 90% of Koç Holding’s net asset value (what it owns, minus debt). At the end of 2025 Koç Holding was worth TL 428 billion, about $10 billion, and by its own count traded 35% below net asset value. This “holding discount” is what outside investors charge for owning a group indirectly.
Speaking in Ankara, Ömer Koç said the group employs more than 120,000 people in over 60 countries, Para Dergi reported on 5 June. The company says its revenues equal about 7% of Turkey’s GDP and its exports 8% of the national total, and that it is Turkey’s only Fortune Global 500 company.
Foreign partners as co-owners
Koç grew by turning sales agencies into joint factories. Otosan became Ford Otosan in 1977 under a licence agreement with Ford. Ford later bought in, and since 1997 each side has owned 41%, with the rest traded in Istanbul, according to a 2010 Ford press release. Tofaş was founded in 1968 with Fiat, now part of Stellantis. At the end of 2023, Koç Holding owned 37.59% of Tofaş and Stellantis Europe 37.86%, according to Tofaş’s annual report.
The partner brings brands, technology and export markets; Koç brings factories, dealers and knowledge of Turkey. Neither decides alone, and the partner’s global plans can set the pace. In December 2024, bne IntelliNews reported that Tofaş had cut about 13% of its workforce, linking this to problems at Stellantis and to Chinese competition.
A foundation with a stake, not control
Vehbi Koç set up his foundation in 1969; the group calls it the first private foundation of the Republican era. It runs Koç University, the VKV American Hospital and the Sadberk Hanım Museum, among others. Its 7.3% stake gives it a share of any dividends.
At Tata, by contrast, charitable trusts own about 66% of the holding company (see our Tata post). At Koç the foundation is a minority shareholder, and the family keeps the votes.
A fair caveat
Much of the early history comes from the group itself. Sources differ on oil: Wikipedia dates the Standard Oil agency to 1928, while an older company history cites a 1931 deal with Mobil. The employee figure comes from a speech, and the family’s rules are known only from press accounts.
Five lessons to take away
- Turn agencies into factories. Selling Ford cars led, step by step, to building them with Ford.
- Put the companies under one roof early. Koç Holding gave the group one owner and one set of rules in 1963.
- Give partners real equity, and expect to share decisions. Equal stakes bind both sides; neither is fully in charge.
- Votes and capital can be split. Double-vote A shares give one family company a majority of the votes.
- A foundation can own a stake without holding the keys. The foundation shares in dividends; the family keeps control.
Questions to bring to your advisors
If we bring in a foreign partner, what share should it own, and who breaks a deadlock? Would listing our holding company cost us control, and could share classes protect it under our law? Should a family foundation own part of the business, and how much? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
