Who Owns BioNTech and Does Ugur Sahin Have a Stake?

BioNTech and Pfizer have said that their COVID-19 vaccine provides higher protection against the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus with a booster dose. The WHO has named the new strain as a variant of concern even though it has spread to many countries. Who owns BioNTech and does Dr. Ugur Sahin have a stake in the company?

So far, the BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is the only vaccine with full FDA approval. All of the other vaccines that are being administered currently, including that from Moderna, only have EUA (emergency use authorization).

BioNTech and Pfizer were partners in the COVID-19 vaccine. BioNTech is also working on cancer treatments and has partnered with other companies like Sanofi. Currently, sales of the COVID-19 vaccines are the key driver of BioNTech's revenues.

BioNTech is a German biotechnology company that was founded in 2008. It wasn't well known outside Europe before it teamed up with Pfizer on the COVID-19 vaccine. The company was founded by Dr. Ugur Sahin, Dr. Özlem Türeci, and Professor Christoph Huber.

Sahin was at the center of a controversy recently after an old video circulating showed that he hasn't received the COVID-19 vaccine himself. However, it's an old video from 2020 when Sahin wasn't eligible to get the vaccine. He did get vaccinated and has also got the booster shot.

Many people still doubt the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. In parts of the western world, there have been protests against mandatory vaccinations and mask mandates. In the U.S., President Joe Biden hasn't been able to get his vaccine mandate through Congress.

BioNTech was listed on the U.S. markets in October 2019. The timing couldn't have been better for investors. The company priced the IPO at $15, which was below the $18–$20 that it was previously seeking. The stock trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “BNTX.”

Impf GmbH is the largest stockholder of BNTX and it's owned by brothers Andreas and Thomas Strüngmann. The company has a 47.18 percent stake in BioNTech. The Strüngmann family is among the biggest gainers from the steep rise in BNTX stock. Medine GmbH is the second-largest stockholder of BioNTech. The company is owned by Sahin, who is the sole shareholder of the company.

Baillie Gifford also owns 2.6 percent of the company and is the third-largest stockholder of the company. Huber, who's among the co-founders of the company, owns a little less than 1 percent of the company.

Unlike Pfizer, which is mainly owned by institutions, BNTX is mainly held by the Strüngmann family and Sahin. Since Pfizer is part of several indices including the S&P 500, which is the world’s largest and most popular stock index, it's natural to expect high institutional ownership.