Read the complete write-up of Acun Ilıcalı net worth, age, height, family, wife, children, media as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Acun Ilıcalı is a Turkish broadcaster, entrepreneur, international TV producer and businessman. He is the owner of TV channels TV8 and TV8.5, Turkey’s digital platform Exxen, production companies in several countries, including the United States, Mexico, Romania, Hungary, Brazil, Colombia and Greece.
He is the founder and member of the directors Acun Media Group, which does productions for leading television channels worldwide, and he develops broadcasting strategies for the channels he works with. Furthermore, he is the owner of the format of competition program Exatlon, which is the first sports reality format in the world. Several documentaries and programs have been made about Ilıcalı’s life, covering his career from sports reporter to media mogul.
He has been awarded more than 1000 prizes in various categories and has been described as one of the most reliable names in Turkey. In the period 2018 to 2020, he was listed among the 500 most influential businessmen in the media and entertainment sector by Variety Magazine.
Early life
| Name | Acun Ilıcalı |
| Net Worth | $50 million |
| Profession | Broadcaster, Businessman, Producer |
| Height | 1.83m |
| Age | 52years |
Ali Acun Ilıcalı was born on May 29, 1969(age 52 years) in Edirme, Turkey. Acun parents are İlknur Ilıcalı and Ergün Ilıcalı. His family comes from Turkey’s northeast Erzurum province. He has paternal Azerbaijani ancestry. After having completed his primary education there, he completed his middle and high school education at Istanbul’s Kadıköy Anadolu Lisesi (formely named Kadıköy Maarif Koleji). Ilıcalı began his higher education in English teaching at Istanbul University but chose to start a business instead of finishing his degree.
Ilıcalı entered the media sector at the age of 22 and began working for the Turkish television channel Show TV as a sports reporter. After having worked as a sports reporter for several years, in 2004 he founded his own production company Acun Medya, which quickly became one of Turkey’s most prominent production companies.
In 2008, Ilıcalı was among the country’s highest-paying taxpayers for the first time. After this, he has been among the top 100 highest paying taxers of Turkey every year and he has become the first in its field.
Career
Acun Ilıcalı started his career in Media in the year of 1990 as a reporter. In 2002, Ilıcalı produced several programs and content for a number of Turkey’s most popular television channels.
His travel/entertainment program, Acun Firarda, which he prepared and presented himself by travelling to more than 100 countries, was particularly successful. He quickly became one of the most recognized names in Turkey, where his shows typically enjoyed very high ratings.
Ilıcalı founded his own production company Acun Medya in 2004, purchasing a number of worldwide format rights, which he adopted for Turkish viewers. These included Deal or no Deal?, Fear Factor, Survivor, MasterChef, Got Talent, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, Rising Star and Ninja Warrior, all of which were broadcast on popular prime-time slots.
In 2013, Acun Medya incorporated television channel TV8. With Acun Medya productions, TV8’s ratings increased rapidly, soon becoming Turkey’s most widely-viewed TV channel. Acun Medya subsequently forged a partnership with Doğuş Production Group, one of Turkey’s most prominent media companies.
In 2016, Ilıcalı launched the entertainment and sports channel TV8.5, which quickly became one of the country’s most highly-viewed thematic TV channels.
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Ilıcalı’s first foray into the international media sector began with projects he produced in 2016 in Greece. Acun Medya produced a number of television programs in Greece, including The Voice, Survivor, Got Talent, My Style Rocks. These programs, which were broadcast on the Skai TV, enjoyed ratings of %70, making them some of the most-viewed programs in Greek television history.
As a result of its successes in Greece, Acun Medya developed a format bringing sports and reality programming together for the first time. Exatlon, a new competition program, was broadcasting in a number of countries, including the USA, Mexico, Romania, Columbia, Brazil and Hungary. Exatlon currently remains among the most highly viewed programs in the countries in which it is broadcast.
Following the success of Exatlon, Ilıcalı concluded an agreement with Ricardo Salinas, owner of Mexico’s largest media group, for the production of television content for a three-year period. These productions are currently being broadcast – in both daytime and evening slots – on Azteca Uno, Mexico’s most popular television channel.
Acun Ilıcalı has been engaged in the football sector in the 2020/2021 season in partnership with Netherland’s football team Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie League. In 2021, he terminated his partnership with the football team, announcing plans to purchase an English football team.
In the same year, he launched Exxen, Turkey’s digital platform that provides family-oriented content. Within one week of its launch, Exxen had drawn more than 500,000 subscribers.
Also in 2021, Acunmedya Akademi has been launched with Nişantaşı University to provide training in television production, gastronomy and digital. On the first day after its launch, Acunmedya Akademi received 50,000 applications from prospective students.
Sports
Ilıcalı, who lives by the motto My greatest passion is to play games, make people play and entertain, at the same time to have fun and entertain, because life is a playground is known for his passion for speed and adrenalin. His hobbies include riding and collecting speedboats, sports cars and motorcycles.
He is also interested in e-sports, a global trend that has become increasingly popular in recent years. A lover of both football and basketball, Ilıcalı follows both sports very closely and frequently attends matches all over the world. He is also a huge fan of Turkey’s Fenerbahçe football team and is the owner of the Dutch football club Fortuna Sittard.
Wife
Acun Ilıcalı is currently single and not married. However, he has been married three times and has four daughters. In 1989, he married his first wife Seda Başbuğ with whom he has a daughter. Ten months after the birth of his daughter, Ilıcalı lost both his mother and father in a car accident, and in 1993 he divorced Başbuğ. In 2003, he married his second wife Zeynep Yılmaz, with whom he had two daughters. Ilıcalı also has a fourth daughter, from his subsequent marriage with third wife Şeyma Subaşı.
Acun Ilıcalı net worth
What is Acun Ilıcalı net worth? Acun Ilıcalı net worth is estimated at around $100 million. His main source of income is his media career. Acun Ilıcalı’s successful career has earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy cars. He is one of the richest people in Turkey. However, through the formats, he has developed and the global program rights he has purchased, Acun Medya is producing content on four continents and in more than 10 countries.