Hamdi Ulukaya, the 43-year old founder and chief executive of Greek yogurt maker Chobani, has helped pull off a remarkable turnaround over the last 19 months. During that time, the Turkish businessman has turned an operating loss into a profit and, even against stepped-up competition, increased Chobani’s market share, The Post has learned. Much of the success has been attributed to the introduction of Chobani Flip, a single-serving package that separates the yogurt from dry toppings, and to Ulukaya’s stepped-up focus as CEO.
Yogurt maker Chobani announced it will name a new chief executive to replace its founder and may appoint its acting president, a turnaround expert from private equity firm TPG, which lent the company $750 million last year. The company plans to name a new CEO in the first half of 2015 and replace company founder Hamdi Ulukaya – the top contender is currently interim president and COO Kevin Burns.
Kevin Burns is not being paid to serve as interim COO of the challenged yogurt-maker. Last week, The New York Times reported that investors with private equity firm TPG Capital were “paying twice” for work being done by TPG partner Kevin Burns, who also is serving as the interim COO of yogurt maker Chobani (in which TPG invested last year). The paper basically alleged that Burns was being paid his regular TPG salary, derived from annual management fees paid by limited partners in TPG funds, while TPG also was receiving from Chobani a “a separate fee based on the partner’s work on the particular investment.” And, rather than sharing this separate fees with its limited partners, TPG had used a shadowy internal “recovery” group to keep most of the money in-house.
