Beko Elektronik A.Ş. was founded by Vehbi Koç, the founder of Koç Holding (who also founded Arçelik A.Ş., the parent company of Beko, in 1955), and Leon Bejerano in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1954. The company's name is a combination of the first two letters of the founders' surnames, Bejerano and Koç.
In 2004, Beko Elektronik purchased the German electronics company Grundig and by January 2005, Beko and its rival, Turkish electronics and white goods brand Vestel, accounted for more than half of all TV sets manufactured in Europe.[3]
In April 2010, the electronics division of Beko renamed itself Grundig Elektronik A.Ş.[4]
At the Extraordinary General Shareholders Meeting of Arçelik A.Ş. on 29 June 2009, it was decided to merge Arçelik A.Ş. with the company's subsidiary, Grundig Elektronik A.Ş. (to be administered directly by Arçelik A.Ş. of Koç Holding) by taking over all of Grundig's assets and liabilities as a whole.[5]
Beko started selling its products in Egypt in 2014[6] and, in June of that year, the company updated its logo.[7]
Some Beko products have posed a safety risk to consumers who have bought them. In 2016, Mishell Moloney was found dead due to a fault with a Beko drying machine that had caught fire.[11] Beko tried to claim that the fault that led to Moloney's death was a 'tragic and isolated incident.'[12] However, the DCS 85W drying machine which was used by Moloney was already responsible for some twenty fires in the UK. Beko quality control chief, Andrew Mullin, also revealed that the smaller models in the range, had already been recalled due to hundreds of safety incidents.[13]
