Kakao to acquire live commerce firm Grip for W180b: sources

Kakao Corp. will acquire a majority stake of live commerce startup firm Grip Co., according to sources Wednesday. The South Korean tech giant plans to acquire a 48 percent stake of the company for 180 billon won ($152.5 million), sources familiar with the deal said. Established in 2018, the company currently operates its namesake live commerce mobile application, which allows users to sell products online. The number of sellers on Grip stood at some 12,000 as of April, and the volume of tr

Dec. 1, 2021

OECD maintains Korea’s 2021 GDP forecast at 4%

SEJONG -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has maintained its outlook on the South Korean economy this year, while revising down its growth predictions for major countries. In a report released Wednesday, the Paris-based organization maintained its earlier forecast in September of a 4 percent growth in gross domestic product for Korea this year. “The Korean economy continues to recover following the COVID-19 shock, propelled by strong export growth, improving bu

Dec. 1, 2021

Pressure builds on stock market over omicron variant, Fed warning

Growing fear over the omicron variant and sooner-than-expected tapering by the US Fed are weighing on the South Korean stock market, analysts said Wednesday, although some say it will take longer to gauge how the impact will play out here. The nation’s main bourse Kospi hit the lowest mark of the year on Tuesday, as short sellers dumped about 1 trillion won ($848 million) on the Kospi and the junior, tech-heavy Kosdaq in their second largest sell-off this year. Stocks rebounded Wednesd

Dec. 1, 2021

Posco mulls holding company structure: sources

  South Korean steelmaker Posco Group is pushing to establish a holding company to make a breakthrough in business expansion and eventually to boost its market valuation, industry sources said Wednesday. Posco, the country’s sixth-largest conglomerate in terms of assets, has been drawing a downward graph in stocks despite its record-high business result this year due to the booming steel industry during pandemic.  According to sources, Posco Group will table the issue of an es

Dec. 1, 2021

KB picks young CEO to lead flagship bank

South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Wednesday it has tapped a 55-year-old sales executive to head its flagship KB Kookmin Bank, reflecting the financial giant’s drive to seek transformation in business and target younger people. Lee Jae-keun, KB Kookmin Bank’s current senior executive vice president of the sales division, will become the youngest current CEO in the nation’s banking industry. Lee’s two-year term starts in January once his nomination is approved a

Dec. 1, 2021

Monthly exports break $60b-mark for first time

SEJONG -- South Korea’s monthly exports surpassed $60 billion last month for the first time on the back of the brisk outbound shipments of semiconductors and petrochemicals. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, exports posted an all-time high of $60.4 billion in November, up 32.1 percent from a year earlier. “After initially surpassing $50 billion in October 2013, the monthly export volume topped the $60 billion mark in 97 months,” said the ministry. &ldqu

Dec. 1, 2021

[Herald Interview] For Porsche, synthetic fuel is key for carbon neutrality

Porsche is not ready to let go of combustion engines. Engines are what make a Porsche a Porsche, an executive told The Korea Herald while visiting Seoul for a motor show. And in order to keep that forte while complying with the green agenda, the German carmaker is developing eFuel, a climate-neutral fuel produced with the help of electricity from water and CO2 from the air. “The market is full of combustion cars and they will continue to be made and driven in 2030,” said Thomas F

Dec. 1, 2021

Samsung, Ministry of SMEs team up to support smaller tech firms

Samsung Electronics and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a 30 billion won ($25.4 million) fund supporting smaller tech firms here. Samsung and the ministry are contributing 15 billion won each with the aim of supporting research work for locally-developed materials, parts and equipment for the next five years between 2022 and 2026. “In order to respond to changes in this new normal era, innovation should occur not at a compa

Dec. 1, 2021

Government-led consumer finance data service kicks off

A government-led program that aims to give consumers more information and control of their personal finance data was officially launched Wednesday, allowing customers to manage their lives more efficiently. The program dubbed “MyData” allows customers of 53 government-approved financial institutions to receive personal, customized and comprehensive finance data of their spending, all bank account balances, loans, insurance and more from the choice of their firm. The services will b

Dec. 1, 2021

Hyundai's Nov. sales fall 17% amid chip shortage

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, said Wednesday its sales fell 17 percent last month from a year earlier amid global chip shortages. Hyundai Motor sold 312,602 vehicles in November, down from 377,193 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales declined 11 percent to 62,071 units from 70,035, as the lack of semiconductor parts continued to affect vehicle production and sales, it said. Overseas sales dropped 18 percent to 250,531 from 307,158 amid the

Dec. 1, 2021

Seoul stocks spike over 2% to snap 6-day slump

South Korean stocks rebounded more than 2 percent Wednesday, after plunging to the year's lowest point in the previous session. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) advanced 60.71 points, or 2.14 percent, to close at 2,899.72 points, ending its six-day slide. Trading volume was moderate at about 553 million shares worth some 12.1 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 773 to 122. Foreigners bought a net 907

Dec. 1, 2021

Naver, SoftBank join forces for metaverse push

South Korean internet giant Naver on Wednesday laid out its strategies to enter the global market with its latest metaverse technology that allows hyperconnection between the real world and virtual reality. “We have recently joined hands with SoftBank to make an HD map of cities in Japan through our ALIKE solution. It will be an important stepping stone for Naver to bring future without borders,” said Seok Sang-ok, CEO of Naver Labs, during a press conference. Seok added that Nave

Dec. 1, 2021

[Battery+] 1%: Shocking profitability of EV battery biz

For every dollar Samsung SDI makes by selling electric vehicle batteries, it only pockets 1 cent in profit. In contrast, Samsung Electronics earned 30.4 cents for every dollar in chips it sold from July to September this year. It’s no wonder Samsung doesn’t have its own EV battery factory in the US, but is instead investing a whopping $17 billion to build its second chip plant there. As the numbers show, the EV battery business, despite the market hype, is not as attractive in te

Dec. 1, 2021

Renault Samsung's Nov. sales more than doubled on exports

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., said Wednesday its vehicle sales more than doubled last month from a year earlier on robust exports. Renault Samsung sold 11,743 vehicles in November, sharply up from 867 units a year earlier despite the extended COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales fell 15 percent on-year to 6,129 units from 7,207, but exports soared to 11,743 units from 867 on strong demand for its SUV models, it said. From Ja

Dec. 1, 2021

Leasing firm, affiliate fined over illegal support

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has decided to impose a combined 2.37 billion-won ($2 million) fine on SYS Holdings and its affiliate for the parent company's illegal support. SYS Holdings, a leasing company, provided real estate collateral for free to its affiliate SYS Retail, an operator of an electronics goods discount outlet, between December 2009 and November 2021, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). The move helped SYS Retail easily take 195 rounds of low-in

Dec. 1, 2021

2nd batch of Chinese urea set to arrive in S. Korea

The second batch of urea under export inspection in China was to arrive in South Korea on Wednesday, the oceans ministry said, which is expected to help address supply crunch of urea solution, a key fluid needed in diesel cars to cut emissions. The ship carrying 3,000 tons of urea will arrive in the southeastern city of Ulsan around 9 p.m. after leaving from the Longkou port in China's northeastern province of Shandong on Monday, according to the ministry. It is part of the 18,700 tons of urea

Dec. 1, 2021

SsangYong's Nov. sales fall 26% on lower demand

SsangYong Motor Co. said Wednesday its sales fell 26 percent last month from a year earlier amid a prolonged chip shortage. SsangYong Motor sold 8,748 vehicles in November, down from 11,859 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales declined 32 percent to 6,277 units last month from 9,270 a year ago, while exports were down 3.4 percent to 2,501 units from 2,589 during the same period, it said. From January to November, its sales fell 3.4 percent to 75,351 autos from

Dec. 1, 2021

Bio firms expand network, gain state project boost

The government’s Innovation-Communication Open Network (i-CON) project has been helping Korea’s small and medium-sized bio companies expand their networks and improve the quality of their products, according to the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization. The organization is currently running the bio and health program of the i-CON project to support small and medium-sized enterprises to develop technology capabilities by using infrastructure and manpower owned by research instit

Dec. 1, 2021

Canadian firm buys virtual land for $2.4m

A Canadian virtual real estate company Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of investment firm Tokens.com, bought a virtual land in a metaverse platform called Decentraland for $2.4 million. Established in 2017, Decentraland is an online platform that deals with virtual assets in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the Ethereum blockchain. Avatars in the Decentraland can earn money by embarking on speculative investment, hosting exhibitions, and conducting advertisement campai

Dec. 1, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding wins W1.5t orders for 6 LNG carriers

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Wednesday it has bagged orders worth a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) to build six liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. Under the deals with two companies in North America, the 174,000-cubic meter LNG carriers will be delivered by the second half of 2025, DSME said. DSME has won orders worth $10.44 billion so far this year, far exceeding its annual order target of $7.7 billion. With the latest deals, DSME's annual orders

Dec. 1, 2021