The co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, Turkey’s biggest online food delivery company, has sold the business to Berlin-based Delivery Hero for $589m. Nevzat Aydin shared around $27m among 114 employees – giving those eligible an average bonus of $237,000.

Delivery Hero approved the decision before the acquisition was completed in May of this year.

The cash payout was based on how long employees have been working at Yemeksepeti, their performance and their future prospects at the company

Yemeksepeti was established in 2000 and has since grown to become one of the most successful tech companies in Turkey. It now delivers over three million meals a month and has also spread its reach to other countries in the Middle East; the online service now processes around 100,000 orders every day across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman and Qatar.

The generous CEO explains the decision as wanting to recognise the work contributed by his staff over the fifteen years that the company has been in operation. “Yemeksepeti’s success story did not happen overnight and many people participated in this journey with their hard work and talent,” Aydin told CNN Money.

The cash payout was based on how long employees have been working at Yemeksepeti, their performance and their future prospects at the company. Only staff that had been at Yemeksepeti for two years or more at the point of sale could receive the bonus.

“This bonus package is life changing to many of us,” a Yemeksepeti employee told CNN Money.

Despite selling the business, Aydin will continue to act as CEO for Yemeksepeti and will also join the Delivery Hero executive board.

Delivery Hero was founded in 2011 and has rapidly risen to become the world’s largest food network through a series of acquisitions across five continents. The purchase of Yemeksepeti marks the continued expansion of the tech start-up and its foray into the Middle East market.