Shilla tops new duty-free shops in daily sales

South Korea’s five newly licensed duty-free stores in Seoul are seeing steady improvements in their daily revenue, with HDC Shilla and Hanwha in the lead so far, the companies said Tuesday.　HDC Shilla said its new duty-free store in Yongsan has been racking up some 1.1 billion won ($925,000) in daily sales since April. It opened on Mar. 25 as the first of the five new stores permitted to begin business this year.Hotel Shilla president and CEO Lee Boo-jin looks around Shilla I’Park Duty Free stor

May 31, 2016

Billionaires eye future cars

Many consumer-centric technologies are disrupting the automotive industry, which will no longer be a monopoly of traditional carmakers in the near future.Cars are the new frontier for tech companies and the distinct 200-year-old line between different industries is slowly fading away. With companies spreading out from their core business, many industry insiders have concluded that “anyone who can create the best cars will create them.”As a result, existing competition is growing fierce. Moreover

May 24, 2016

Chaebol investing in K-pop industry

Korean chaebol -- family-controlled conglomerates -- are rushing to capitalize on K-pop which is steadily gaining global popularity. One example is LS Group. Koo Bon-woong, the grandson of late LG Cable & System honorary chairman Koo Tae-hoe and eldest son of LS-Nikko Copper chairman Koo Ja-hong, recently invested in a new K-pop related Korean venture firm called My Music Taste.                                                Formation 8 cofounder Koo Bon-woongThe younger Koo is already well-know

May 24, 2016

Overseas expansion puts Forever 21 in a pickle

The Korean-born American founders of global retail chain Forever 21 known for their rags-to-riches story appear to be facing a crisis.The New York Post reported late last month that Forever 21 was “late paying its bills,” which spooked business partners and banks as the company recently took the “unusual step of closing two massive California stores.”A Forever 21 store in Beijing, China (Bloomberg)The founders of Forever 21 are married couple Chang Do-won and Chang Jin-sook, who are often held u

May 17, 2016

Legacy of LS Group founders creates ‘cousinhood’ management

During the weekend, tributes were paid to a well-respected figure in the Korean business community. LS Group’s cofounder Koo Tai-hwoi, honorary chairman of LS Cable & System, had passed away at the age of 93. As the fourth brother of LG Group founder Koo In-hwoi, who had six brothers, he had founded LS Group, focusing on power equipment and energy sectors in 2003, with his two younger brothers -- Koo Pyong-hwoi and Koo Doo-hwoi. The four affiliates which formed the foundation of the group includ

May 10, 2016

Highest-paid CEOs at home and abroad

Korea’s highest salary earner last year was Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, who received 14.9 billion won ($12.8 million) -- about 40 million won a day. While Kwon’s salary is considered colossal even among Korean CEOs, The Korea Herald Superrich Team found a discrepancy when comparing the salaries of top CEOs at home and abroad by analyzing information released by the Financial Supervisory Service, Forbes magazine, and Equilar, an information provider of executive compen

May 10, 2016

Hong Kong billionaire to push Korean cosmetics in China

Adrian Cheng, 37-year-old scion of the world’s largest jewelry retailer, said he will use his company’s extensive retail network in mainland China to help boost domestic sales of Korean cosmetic products.The grandson of Hong Kong’s billionaire tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, who founded business group Chow Tai Fook Enterprise, decided last year to invest 18 billion won ($16 million) in Korean firm It’s Skin via the group’s subsidiary New World Development Company, where he serves as executive vice chairma

May 3, 2016

Fading fortunes of female chiefs at Hyundai Merchant, Hanjin Shipping

Money-losing Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hanjin Shipping have recently filed for creditor-led rehabilitation programs. There is another thing in common between the two shipping giants. They were led by female leaders, who suddenly transformed into chairwomen from housewives after the deaths of their husbands. Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, 61, who stepped down from the HMM board of directors in March, began to run the conglomerate in 2003 when her husband Chung Mong-hun -- fifth son of

May 3, 2016

Prestigious U.S. prep school taught chaebol owners

Located amid lush fields and green trees in the city of Concord, New Hampshire, St Paul’s School is highly coveted in the United States and also a chaebol favorite.With 160 years of tradition, it boasts notable alumni including members of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, Nobel laureates and current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. In the hopes of honing the talents of their children and developing influential connections, superrich families from all across the world have honed in on the school.

April 26, 2016

Chung leads Hyundai’s success saga in auto

For Hyundai Motor Group, the month of April has been memorable and pride-filled, with the world’s fifth-largest automaker reaching a milestone in car sales. The combined cumulative sales of the group’s two auto units -- Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors -- reached over 100 million units on April 16. It took 54 years for the group to mark the achievement since it began producing cars in 1962. “Hyundai Motor Group is not the first to reach the milestone in the auto industry, but i

April 26, 2016

K-beauty owners bask in hefty dividends

Increasing global demand for K-beauty products improved the industry’s performance last year, helping owners of Korean cosmetics firms earn large cash dividends. Of the top 10 cosmetics firms listed on the stock market, eight chose to pay dividends according to the Financial Supervisory Service last Thursday. While returning company profits to shareholders by paying high cash dividends has its merits, it is also criticized for increasing the wealth of owner families. AmorePacific Group chairman

April 19, 2016

Aekyung, Hyundai Motor get close through marriage

As most Korean conglomerates are controlled by their founding family members, information on the close relationships of business tycoons formed through marriage could be useful for investment decisions.Against such a backdrop, it is understandable that Korean media paid a great deal of attention to the marriage last Friday of a founding family member of Aekyung Group. Chang Young-shin, 80, chairwoman of the mid-tier, family-controlled conglomerate, formed an in-law relationship with Hyundai Moto

April 19, 2016

From a Korean orphan to NFL owner

No one would have thought that superrich NFL owner Kim Pegula had a sad past. The co-owner of high-profile professional American football teams -- along with her husband Terry Pegula -- has an estimated combined net worth of a whopping $4 billion, according to Forbes. Kim Pegula (left) and Terry Pegula, owners of NFL Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo BillsHowever, Kim started her life penniless. Abandoned in front of a police station in Seoul, Kim became an orphan when she was five years old. Nonethele

April 12, 2016

Nine hidden superrich

The 2016 Forbes World’s Billionaires list released last month includes 31 Koreans after calculating their personal wealth -- value of listed and unlisted stocks, cash holdings, real estate and artworks. Most Koreans who made it to the definitive list of the world’s wealthiest people are well-known heads and family members of chaebol such as Samsung, Hyundai, Lotte and SK. However, it also includes nine unfamiliar names.While it may seem strange that these superrich have managed to avoid the publ

April 5, 2016

Questions resurface over succession deal at Daelim

The recent fuss involving misbehavior of Daelim Group‘s Lee Hae-wook has raised the public attention to how the relatively little-known third-generation scion of the family-controlled conglomerate became heir last year. Lee, vice chairman of Daelim Industrial, the flagship construction unit of the group, has exposed the group to reputation risk since his repeated abuse of personal chauffeurs was revealed last month. His prompt public apology for his misdeeds at the firm’s shareholders meeting on

April 5, 2016

AmorePacific chief sees more growth potential in China

The head of AmorePacific Co., South Korea‘s top cosmetics company, has reaffirmed his commitment to the Chinese market, saying he sees more room for growth among middle-class consumers there.“By 2020, the middle class population is expected to reach 500 million, and its size and influence will greatly expand in the next decade,” AmorePacific CEO Suh Kyung-bae was quoted as saying during a monthly meeting with senior company officials earlier this month.AmorePacific has been showing stellar perfo

March 31, 2016

Chaebol see stock wealth reduction

When the superrich win big, they also lose big. This is especially true regarding the stock wealth of owners of chaebol -- Korean family-owned conglomerates -- who saw great fluctuations in their riches last year.The overall personal wealth of chaebol took a hit due to the sluggish economy. Even this year’s rich list -- those with $10 billion or more -- from Forbes and Bloomberg indicate shrinking chaebol wealth, as unlike before no Korean was included. The Samsung Group family in particular was

March 29, 2016

Perseverance behind Shilla‘s heritage hotel success

Perseverance was the key in achieving her long-cherished dream. After four failed attempts, president Lee Boo-jin of Hotel Shilla, a Samsung Group affiliate of luxury hotels and duty-free shops, is finally on her way to build a hotel in the style of a traditional Korean house, or hanok.Following a March 2 approval from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Lee plans to build the hanok hotel adjacent to Shilla Seoul hotel in Jung-gu, central Seoul, after using parts of the hotel grounds to accommoda

March 22, 2016

The rich relatives of chaebol owners

Making it on this year’s exclusive 2016 Forbes billionaire list, 31 out of 1,810 billionaires are Korean. 　Of the 31 selected billionaires, 17 are the largest shareholders or owners of listed chaebol -- Korean family-controlled conglomerates -- who will in total receive at least 538.6 billion won ($452.7 million) in company cash dividends this year, averaging some 31.7 billion won per person. 　Although Korean companies are known to be stingy when it comes to distributing company earnings to shar

March 15, 2016

Korea ranks No. 5 for billionaires who inherited wealth

Korea ranked fifth in the world in terms of superrich business tycoons who inherited their wealth instead of making their own fortune, a think tank report showed. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, 74.1 percent of the 30 Korean billionaires inherited their fortune -- more than double the global average of 30.4 percent.The report said the proportion of Korean billionaires who amassed their fortune through inheritance stayed unchanged over the past two decades. Meanwh

March 15, 2016