Acun Ilıcalı
Ali Acun Ilıcalı (; born 29 May 1969) is a Turkish broadcaster, entrepreneur, international TV producer and businessman. He is the owner of the TV channels TV8 and , Turkey's digital platform Exxen, and production companies in several countries, including United States, Mexico, Romania, Hungary, Brazil, Colombia and Greece. He is the founder and member of directors Acun Media Group, which does productions for leading television channels worldwide, and he develops broadcasting strategies for the channels he works with. He is also 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 years. Acun Ilıcalı, whose family comes from Turkey's northeast Erzurum province, was born in Edirne on 29 May 1969. 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 (formerly named Kadıköy Maarif Koleji). Ilıcalı began his higher education in English teaching at Istanbul University, but chose to start business instead of finishing his degree. Ilıcalı entered the media sector at the age of 22 and began working for Turkish television channel Show TV as a sports reporter. After working 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 tax payers 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. 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. In 2004, Ilıcalı founded his own production company Acun Medya, 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. 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" and "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 USA, Mexico, Romania, Colombia, Brazil and Hungary. At the 2017 Brazil edition, presented by the local host Luís Ernesto Lacombe, Ilıcalı and some partners menaced the local presenter hours before the grand final and took the stage himself. "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. Today, 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. Ilıcalı was engaged in a partnership with Dutch football team Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie League during the 2020-21 season. In 2021, he terminated his partnership with the 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. On 19 January 2022, Hull City announced that Acun Medya, backed by Ilıcalı, had purchased the club from Assem Allam. Personal life. Ilıcalı has been married three times, and  has four daughters. In 1989, he married 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 Zeynep Yılmaz, with whom he had two daughters. Ilıcalı also has a fourth daughter, from his subsequent marriage with Şeyma Subaşı. 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 English football club Hull City.