Vestel’s Financial Squeeze Deepens

Ege Region’s flagship electronics and white goods powerhouse, Vestel, is entering one of the most challenging phases in its modern history. With financial pressure intensifying and market competition escalating, the company has begun informal discussions with several Chinese manufacturers as part of a search for potential international partners. While these talks remain exploratory and far from a final decision, industry insiders describe the process as “multi-layered” and “strategically sensitive,” signaling Vestel’s urgent need to secure a long-term stabilizing move.

Founded originally by Turkish Cypriot businessman Asil Nadir and later acquired in 1994 by Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, Vestel has been part of Zorlu Holding for over three decades. Now, for the first time since that acquisition, the company is weighing scenarios that include joint ventures, equity partnerships, or partial divestments, underscoring how dramatically the market landscape has shifted.

Chinese Electronics Giants Squeeze European Market

The backdrop of Vestel’s difficulties is the rapid expansion of Chinese tech and appliance brands across both Turkey and Europe. With aggressive price strategies, high-volume production, and increasingly sophisticated product lines, Chinese companies have been eroding the market positions historically dominated by firms like Vestel and Arçelik.

This competitive pressure has taken a measurable toll. Sector analysts estimate that Turkish manufacturers’ revenue streams in Europe have contracted by 15–20%, a decline attributed directly to China’s accelerated market penetration. As European retail chains increasingly rely on lower-cost Asian suppliers, Turkish brands are fighting to retain shelf space and maintain margins.

Vestel’s Financial Decline Becomes Impossible to Ignore

Vestel’s latest financial data illustrates the severity of the situation. In the first nine months of the year:

• Vestel Electronic’s net sales fell nearly 20%, slipping from 132.1 billion TL to 107.6 billion TL

• Vestel White Goods posted a similar 20% contraction, concluding the period with 57.5 billion TL in revenue

• Vestel Electronic disclosed losses exceeding 19 billion TL

• Group-wide net debt climbed to 81.5 billion TL, pushing the net-debt-to-equity ratio to a critical 177%

• Vestel White Goods also reported a 3.3 billion TL loss

Taken together, Vestel Group’s combined loss for January–September exceeded 22 billion TL, marking one of the most difficult financial cycles in the company’s modern history.

Layoffs Escalate as Factories Brace for Rising Wage Costs

The most visible human impact of Vestel’s financial strain has surfaced in its employment figures. At the start of the year, the company employed more than 29,000 people. Within just nine months, that number dropped below 25,000.

This downward shift includes:

• 3,600 layoffs in the electronics division

• 1,500 job cuts in the white-goods division

• 3.3 billion TL paid in severance and retirement compensations

The timing is also critical: as Turkey’s new minimum wage announcement approaches, the company has reportedly accelerated layoffs to adapt to the expected increase in labor costs. Workers in the Manisa production complex describe the environment as tense, with uncertainty surrounding future staffing levels.