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Shin Dong-bin | Shin Dong-joo |
By Park Si-soo
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin said he will not take management control of affiliates in Japan following the unexpected dismissal of his elder brother from top posts there early this month.
"I won't take control of Lotte Japan. Instead, Lotte Holdings CEO Takayuki Tsukuda will run the company," Shin told reporters prior to attending a lunch meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang at the Shilla Hotel in central Seoul, Saturday. "I will only control Lotte operations in Korea."
The departure of Shin Dong-joo, vice chairman of Lotte Holdings, was known to have been engineered by the brother's 93-year-old father Shin Kyuk-ho, who founded the $90 billion corporate empire back in 1967.
Asked about any message coming from his father following the dismissal, the chairman simply answered: "Nothing."
Shin told reporters on Jan. 13 that his brother's forced resignation was "my father's decision."
The chairman's latest comments run against market speculation that Shin will take control of Lotte's business units in Korea and Japan. The country's fifth biggest conglomerate has 74 affiliates here and 37 in the neighboring country, whose combined sales are estimated at around 92 trillion won.
It's still uncertain why Dong-joo was dismissed. Rumors have it that he showed a poor performance in his position or fell out of favor with his father for an unidentified reason. No matter what it may be, one thing certain is that the chairman has become the founder's handpicked successor with no challenger, at least for now, in sight.
The founder holds a controlling stake in Kwangyoon Corp., a de facto holding company of Lotte in Korea and Japan. His two sons hold substantial stakes in the group's key affiliates. However, it is still impossible for either of them to take control of the group's leadership without their father's assistance.
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