Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
SKT to restructure governance within this year
SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho speaks at the company's general shareholders' meeting held in central, Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of SK Telecom
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
SK Telecom (SKT) CEO Park Jung-ho pledged on Thursday that SK Group would revamp its governance structure this year as a means to boost shareholder value.
“It is an important task of mine to provide greater value to shareholders. We will be able to carry out (the restructuring) this year so that the greatest benefits can be provided,” he said at the telecom firm's general shareholders' meeting held at SKT's headquarters in central Seoul.
The CEO, however, did not elaborate on how this would take place and said a session informing about the planned changes will soon be held.
Park made the governance restructuring project official at a meeting of SK Group CEOs in 2018, and it gained traction with him becoming vice chairman of the conglomerate's semiconductor affiliate SK hynix last year.
The project involves making SKT an intermediate holding company. Under the current structure, SK Holdings owns majority stakes of SKT, and SKT holds a majority of SK hynix. The plan for SKT to become an intermediate holding company is to enable SK hynix to become a first-tier subsidiary, which would enable a broader scope of M&As for the chip maker.
SKT said it set up a charter on corporate governance structure in its articles of association. It states, “The company will make consistent efforts to set up a transparent and sound governance structure. The company needs to draw up a charter on its willingness and means to achieve this, and develop this.”
SKT has also set up four committees under its board to strengthen the board's role. The four committees each focus on medium- to long-term strategies, employee compensation, audits and ESG management.
The employee compensation committee will be able to make evaluations of board members including the CEO, as well as decide on their level of compensation.
SKT has been initiating efforts since 2012 to ensure the independence of its board, by preventing the CEO from serving as board chairman. The company has also sought to enhance the role of the board by improving the gender representation of members ― a female outside director was appointed in 2018.
SKT introduced another means to benefit shareholders, by laying grounds to enable quarterly dividend payouts. SKT has paid dividends twice a year, but is seeking to provide payouts on a quarterly basis. An SKT official said the amount of dividend payouts has yet to be decided.
The CEO also reiterated SKT's vision to become a company focused on artificial intelligence (AI).
“This is a year we make a major shift in the direction of our business. SKT will make the transition to an AI company,” Park said. Centering on AI, SKT is seeking to connect its core business as a mobile network operator with other new businesses in media, security, commerce and mobility. SKT is seeking to make a leap to a tech company with new technology and businesses, as the local telecom market has reached saturation.
Park also said SKT would gradually seek stock market listings of its affiliates in information communication technology (ICT).
SKT achieved record sales of 18.62 trillion won in 2020, and its operating profit came to 1.35 trillion won, a 22 percent growth from the previous year. New ICT businesses posted a combined operating profit of 320 billion won last year. This accounted for 24 percent of SKT's total operating profit.