The Korea Times

CJ Group may sell off CGV

A CGV theater in Vietnam / Courtesy of CJ CGVBy Kim Jae-heunThere has long been speculation that CJ Group would sell off its theaters and bakery franchise in order to concentrate on its three main business ― CJ Cheil Jedang, CJ Logistics and CJ ENM.Every time such rumors surfaced, CJ Group flatly denied them giving no reason. However, three months after the speculation first emerged, it appears to have had a change of heart and has put Tous Les Jours on the market.The story may be the same for CGV, the country's largest multiplex cinema chain, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's ticket sales have dropped 70 percent compared to last year and it reported a 200 billion won operating loss in the first half. Although, its business is at worst for now, CGV's brand image is still big in Korea. It is also operating overseas branches in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Turkey, Vietnam and the United States.Last year, CJ Group sold its 28.57 percent stake in the merged entity created by combining three overseas corporations in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, to MBK Partners

Oct 20, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

K-pop

Big Hit Entertainment asked to cut reliance on BTS

BTS / Courtesy of Big Hit EntertainmentBy Kim Jae-heunBig Hit Entertainment's heavy dependence on BTS has long been pointed out as its biggest weakness, as the group was responsible for 97.4 percent of the talent agency's revenue until last year. It would be rainbows and unicorns for Big Hit if BTS were to never get old, didn't have to undertake mandatory military service and could manage to stay popular forever, but the reality of the Korean entertainment industry prevails.And so it stands that any sudden unfavorable factor for BTS could also spell the end for Big Hit as well. Before the listing of the entertainment firm, BTS made history with its new digital single “Dynamite” reaching the No.1 rank on Billboard's Hot 100 main single chart. It brought high expectations for the success of Big Hit's successful IPO, but one of the members made a seemingly benign remark on the 1950-53 Korean War that provoked controversy among Chinese fans. As a result, a number of Korean firms ― including Samsung Electronics, Fila and Hyundai Motor ― pulled advertisements featuring BTS from

Oct 20, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Big Hit Entertainment asked to cut reliance on BTS

Companies

Lotteria struggling to get customers back to stores

Folder Burger / Courtesy of LotteriaBy Kim Jae-heunLotte Group's fast food chain Lotteria has been looking to draw consumers back to its restaurants after the continued spread of COVID-19 led to a severe drop in the number of in-store customers.To bring people back, Lotteria introduced unique menu items in July and September, but the releases made little difference to the number of customers eating at its restaurants.Lotteria launched a new menu item called the Folder Burger in July, which went viral for a month. The Folder Burger consists of chicken or beef with cheese, onions and sauce wrapped in flatbread. Within a month of the menu's launch, 1.7 million of the burgers were sold across the country.However, the popularity of the folder burger did not last long. Its sales volume decreased by over half in August, numbering roughly 800,000 sold that month. In September alone, sales dropped by another 38 percent, amounting to just 500,000. As there are 1,340 Lotteria restaurants around the country, each branch has only been selling 10 to 15 folder burgers a day. Lotteria replaced Ken R

Oct 19, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Lotteria struggling to get customers back to stores

Society

Concerns grow over poor work conditions at logistics firms

The father of the deceased CJ Logistics delivery worker protests in front of the company's headquarters in Seoul, on Oct. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwonBy Kim Jae-heunOnly four days after a 40-year-old delivery worker at CJ Logistics died from respiratory difficulty on Oct. 8, another man in his 20s died from alleged overwork at Coupang's distribution center in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, last Monday. According to the taskforce established to support COVID-19 victims at Coupang's workplace, the young man was employed part-time but he worked over 40 hours a week. He occasionally worked overtime due to lack of staff.The taskforce added that Coupang has recently imposed higher standards of labor productivity on its workers, measured by units per hour (UPH). “A manager is monitoring every individual's UPH in real time and if the rate slows for even 10 minutes, he will reprimand you. Some people can't even go to the toilet,” a taskforce official said. The victim is said to have no chronic diseases and he was neither a smoker nor a drinker.Coupang denied the work

Oct 18, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Concerns grow over poor work conditions at logistics firms

Companies

Convenience stores' sales much affected by B Mart, Yo Mart

Delivery Hero introduces its new fulfilment store Yo Mart. / Courtesy of Delivery Hero KoreaBy Kim Jae-heunLocal convenience stores' sales coming from delivery services have nosedived affected by the appearance of “fulfillment” stores.Fulfillment stores are a combined form of distribution center and convenience store run by food delivery firms such as Woowa Brothers and Delivery Hero. They sell products purchased directly from manufacturers or farmers and provide delivery services to customers within an hour. According to Rep. Hong Sung-kook of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Woowa Brothers' B Mart saw its sales skyrocket 10-fold over the 10 months since it was first introduced last November. The delivery firm did not reveal exact numbers related to its business performance but the lawmaker confirmed B Mart's sales in Seoul have increased by 963.3 percent as of August this year. At the same time, convenience stores' sales coming from delivery services in the capital dropped by half. The Korea Association of Convenience Store Industry (KACSI) said one particula

Oct 18, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Convenience stores' sales much affected by B Mart, Yo Mart

Companies

SSG.com to target Coupang with new open market service

A customer shop with SSG.com on her mobile phone. / Courtesy of SSG.comBy Kim Jae-heunShinsegae's e-commerce platform SSG.com will launch an open market service starting December, challenging the top two players Naver and Coupang. SSG.com has already started looking to host small dealers to sell their products on its online mall ― strengthening its platform power by increasing the volume of merchandise online.Currently, SSG.com sells 10 million products that it directly purchases from manufacturers or trades with contracted vendors. The number is only one 10th the amount that an average open market offers here. When SSG.com begins its open market service and offers more variety of products, the retailer will be exposed more frequently to customers leading to an increase in business volume.In April, another retail giant Lotte Shopping opened its online shopping mall to small dealers to sell their products. Lotte instantly increased the amount of merchandise on its online platform from 1.8 million to 25 million. SSG.com has already acquired permission from the Financial Supervisory Ser

Oct 15, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

SSG.com to target Coupang with new open market service

Economy

CJ confirms plans for stock swap with Naver

Parcels move on rollers at CJ Logistics' distribution center in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 23. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunCJ Group is in talks with the country's internet portal giant Naver under which the latter will acquire between 10 percent and 20 percent in the former's logistics unit.“In line with plans for exploring new business models, CJ is in talks with Naver to advance the relationship, comprehensively and also thoroughly, including a plan for stock swap,” CJ said, Wednesday.Regarding the possible stock investment in CJ, Naver said it is on track to acquire a stake in CJ's logistics affiliate. However, Naver said details on when, how and the target amount of CJ stocks have yet to be fixed.“We are platform operators and we want to pursue business that can create synergy with CJ Group,” a Naver official said. Naver owns 11.51 percent of shares in itself valued at about 5.57 trillion won. Naver is said to acquire between 10 percent and 20 percent in CJ Logistics, as Naver is considering spending up to 800 billion won. “Both companies have the

Oct 14, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

CJ confirms plans for stock swap with Naver

Tech & Science

New innovation or monopolistic abuse?

By Kim Jae-heunOne of the biggest issues at the 2020 government audit has been the decision by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) to impose a 26.7 billion won penalty on internet giant Naver for fixing the search results of its online shopping mall.Last month, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook visited the top antitrust watchdog to explain that the IT firm had tested its new algorithm to improve the quality of searches on its shopping platform. Han called it “an effort of new innovation.”KFTC Chairman Joh Sung-wook, however, refuted his remark. “How can it be called a quality improvement when Naver limits people's access to its competitors' products by finding its own items on top of others in the search result every time?” she asked.Naver runs a search engine as well as a price-comparing service for online shopping that gathers all the products sold at different e-commerce firms. However, it has its own “open market” platform and simple payment service, Naver Pay. Other internet companies like Kakao, Danawa and Enuri also run price comparison services f

Oct 9, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Companies

BBQ seeks to sue BHC for forgery, defamation

BBQ Chairman Yoon Hong-geun gives a speech during the company's 25th anniversary at one of his company's buildings in Seoul on Sept. 1. / Courtesy of BBQBy Kim Jae-heunKorean fried chicken franchise BBQ is taking legal action against BHC for defamation of its Chairman Yoon Hong-geun, after a recent report revealed that its local rival forged evidence in an embezzlement scandal two years ago that allegedly involved him.Police searched BBQ headquarters and the homes of company executives in November 2018 after a former employee surnamed Joo accused Yoon of embezzling 10 billion won in company funds to pay his children's tuition fees for the previous eight years. Police forwarded the case to the prosecution requesting an indictment but the prosecutors dropped the case citing a lack of evidence. Two years later, Joo a former employee of BBQ, contacted the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, claiming BHC was actually behind the scandal and its CEO Park Hyun-jong paid him and had introduced him to a reporter at the paper to tarnish BBQ's reputation.BHC instantly sent out a pre

Oct 7, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

BBQ seeks to sue BHC for forgery, defamation

Tech & Science

Food delivery firms promise to improve working environment for delivery drivers

Members of the delivery worker union protest , some on scooters, at Gangnam Station in Seoul on April 29. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanBy Kim Jae-heunFood delivery service firms such as Woowa Brothers and Delivery Hero met with the labor union of delivery drivers at YWCA Building in Jung-gu, Seoul, Tuesday, and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to recognize their delivery workers as laborers by law and promised to improve their working environment.Delivery workers have been exposed to various dangers and disadvantages as most of them were hired temporarily to cope with soaring demand for food delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.There is no law to protect riders who get into accidents and it is difficult for them to take legal action against the companies over unfair contracts. For now, the agreement signed between the two parties will implement ad hoc measures to close the labor law loophole and a consultative body will soon be established to urge amelioration of the legal system to the government. The main idea of this agreement is to recognize that food delivery platf

Oct 6, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Kim Jae-heun

Read more

CJ Group may sell off CGV

Big Hit Entertainment asked to cut reliance on BTS

Lotteria struggling to get customers back to stores

Concerns grow over poor work conditions at logistics firms

Convenience stores' sales much affected by B Mart, Yo Mart

SSG.com to target Coupang with new open market service

CJ confirms plans for stock swap with Naver

New innovation or monopolistic abuse?

BBQ seeks to sue BHC for forgery, defamation

Food delivery firms promise to improve working environment for delivery drivers

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