Al-Futtaim Group timeline: from Toyota in 1955 to IKEA, Ace and Watsons

Al-Futtaim Group says it was founded in Dubai in the 1930s. Its own history page then gives dates from 1955, when it started delivering Toyota vehicles, to the 2025 purchase of 49.95% of Saudi retailer Cenomi Retail. The list below follows that page, and it is the company’s account of itself.

The dated record

• 1955: Al-Futtaim Motors starts with the first delivery of Toyota BJ Jeeps and Toyopets.
• 1977: Al-Futtaim Real Estate begins with the construction of Al Garhoud Villas and Al-Futtaim Tower in Dubai.
• 1982: Orient Insurance starts operations in Dubai.
• 1991: the UAE’s first IKEA and Ace stores open, and Al-Futtaim Retail is officially established.
• 1995: Doha Marketing & Services Company (DOMASCO) is established in Qatar, and the first Toys “R” Us store opens in Dubai.
• 1998: Al-Futtaim Retail holds the Marks & Spencer licence for the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
• 2005: Dubai Festival City Mall opens.
• 2008: Dubai Festival City is completed; Associated Motorways is acquired in Sri Lanka and retail starts in Singapore and Malaysia.
• 2013: Cairo Festival City opens; DC Aviation Al-Futtaim is created as a joint venture with the Stuttgart company DC Aviation GmbH; Al-Futtaim Leasing is established in the UAE; Al-Futtaim Vehicle Rentals opens in Qatar; IKEA opens at Doha Festival City.
• 2019: Dubai Festival Plaza Mall opens, and the Al Futtaim Education Foundation and Al-Futtaim Health begin operations in the UAE.
• 2020: Al-Futtaim Retail brings the Asian beauty chain Watsons to the UAE.
• 2022: Al-Futtaim Automotive represents Polestar in the UAE.
• 2024: Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility launches BYD in Saudi Arabia.
• 2025: Al-Futtaim acquires 49.95% of Cenomi Retail.
• 2026: the Dwight School opens in Cairo, in partnership between the Al-Futtaim Education Foundation and Dwight Schools.

Ownership and wealth figures

Forbes Middle East says Abdulla Al Futtaim owns the group and that his son Omar is vice chairman and chief executive. In its 2023 world’s richest Arabs list it put Abdulla Al Futtaim and family at $2.4 billion, down $100 million from 2022 and 1,272nd in the world, and listed the group’s UAE licences as including Hertz, IKEA, Toys “R” Us and Marks & Spencer. Those retailers anchor its malls: Dubai Festival City, Dubai Festival Plaza, Doha Festival City and Cairo Festival City. In 2026 Forbes Middle East ranked the group second among the Top 100 Arab Family Businesses, with the family’s estimated net worth at $4.7 billion as of May 2026. The two figures come from different Forbes lists and are not directly comparable.

A separate group

Wikipedia records that the group was divided in 2000 between Abdulla Al Futtaim and his cousin Majid, who took the property developments that became Majid Al Futtaim, and that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum mediated the settlement. Majid Al Futtaim died in December 2021, according to Forbes Middle East.