POSCO carries out drastic top management reshuffle

POSCO Group on Monday replaced chief executives of key seven units in a drastic overhaul of the South Korean steel-to-battery materials group to shift its focus from stability to reform.

The group also cut executive jobs by 15% to better cope with the flood of cheap Chinese imports and the prolonged slowdown in electric vehicle demand amid the sputtering domestic economy.

“A bold generational shift, a zero-tolerance policy on safety incidents and internal promotions were the principles of this management reshuffle,” said a POSCO Group official.

The top management shake-up came 10 months after it carried out a moderate reshuffle at the top brass in February, where the steel giant kept major units' CEOs in office.

Lee Hee-geun, head of the Facility Reinforcement task force team at steelmaker POSCO, was promoted to lead POSCO Holdings Inc.  

Eom Gichen, head of the Energy Materials Business Unit at POSCO Future M Co., was appointed as CEO of the battery materials producer.

The reshuffle demonstrates POSCO's sense of crisis as its bread-and-butter business steel is stumbling with the rise of Chinese rivals.

Steel maker POSCO, accounting for 60% of the group's earnings, is forecast to report an almost 30% drop to 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in operating profit in 2024, compared with the year prior.

CONSTRUCTION AND IT SERVICE ARMS

Jeong Hee Min, head of POSCO E&C Co.'s Building Works Division, was promoted to lead the construction arm.

Shim Min-suk, head of the Digital Transformation Office at POSCO, was named CEO of POSCO DX Co., a supplier of IT services such as smart factories and logistics.

As the group is pursuing global expansion through mergers and acquisitions, POSCO Holdings created a future strategy division. Lee Jutae, head of the holding company's corporate strategy team, will lead the newly created division.

The number of promoted employees in Monday's reshuffle shrank to 62, compared with 92 in February.

POSCO Group launched a nuclear energy task force team overseeing nuclear and hydrogen power production. It also set up a team dedicated to investments in India.

Alongside the management shake-up, the conglomerate on Monday announced value-up measures such as enhancing shareholder returns and more frequent dividend payments, as well as share buybacks.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.