Lotte Group Successor
As Shin Dong-joo, the eldest son of Lotte Group Founder and General Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho, was fired from all major executive positions in the group, there have been signs of the outline of the leaders who will succeed the company.
Lotte Holdings, a holding company of Lotte Group in Japan, dismissed Shin Dong-joo, former vice chairman at the group, from his position of director at a meeting of the board of directors, which was held on Jan. 8.
Lotte Holdings serves as the de facto manager of Lotte Grop in Korea and Japan. Since General Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho dominates the group’s shares, the business industry believes that his opinion played a part in his eldest son’s dismissal.
Until now, the former Vice Chairman Shin Dong-joo took over Lotte in Japan, while his younger brother and Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin took over Lotte in Korea. However, due to the decision, Chairman Shin Dong-bin is expected to succeed the group.
As of last year, Lotte Korea reported 83 trillion won (US$76.07 billion) in sales from its 74 affiliates, while the Japanese unit reported only 5.7 trillion won (US$5.22 billion) from its 37 affiliates. General Chairman Shin is currently 93 years old.