Lotte Group’s 3rd-generation son comes to the fore

Shin Yoo-yeol, the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-Bin, was promoted to lead the group’s new division to be launched within its holding company Lotte Corp., tasked with finding new growth drivers, during its regular executive reshuffle on Wednesday.

With the promotion, the junior Shin has become the first third-generation family member of the South Korean conglomerate to take a senior manager role at its headquarters.

He will also assume an executive position at both Lotte Corp. and Lotte Biologics Co.

The 37-year-old son of the group chairman has been groomed for top manager roles mostly in Japan.

Since joining Lotte’s Japanese operations in 2020, he has worked at Lotte Chemical’s subsidiary in Japan and led Lotte Strategic Investment, the largest shareholder of Japan-based Lotte Financial.

Lotte Group, focused on food, retail and chemicals, is pivoting toward biopharma, healthcare and IT, respectively with Lotte Biologics, Lotte Healthcare and Lotte Data Communication Co. set to take central roles.

NEW LEADERS AT LOSS-MAKING UNITS

The regular executive reshuffle led to a shift in generations at the group’s top ranks, with some of its longest-serving executives stepping down.

Lee Hun-ki, president of Lotte Corp., is taking over as chief executive of the loss-making chemical operations, including Lotte Chemical Corp.

Known as a strategy and planning expert, Lee has spearheaded Lotte’s M&As and new business development since 2020. He is viewed as a right person to lead the chemicals unit’s overseas expansion and business diversification.

Lotte Chemical racked up a 75.1 billion won ($57 million) shortfall in the first nine months of this year, compared with losses of 454.2 billion won in the same period last year.

PRIVATE EQUITY SPECIALIST

The new lineup of executives includes professional managers from outside, including Ickjin Park, Affinity Equity Partners’ global operations head.

The private equity specialist will be in charge of Lotte Shopping Co.'s e-commerce business, Lotte ON, to better compete with Coupang Inc. and Shinsegae Corp.'s SSG.COM, the country’s two leading retail platforms.

Lotte ON has accumulated losses over the past nine quarters.

In the reshuffle, a total of 14 presidents, including eight CEOs, were replaced at Lotte’s 60 subsidiaries.

The average age of the incoming CEOs fell to 57, compared to 62 in 2022. It is the first time in its history for the average CEO age to fall below 60. 

Write to Hun-Hyoung Ha at hhh@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.