SoftBank CEO looks to cement ties with chaebol

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, right, arrive at the Korea Furniture Museum in Seoul, Thursday, to attend dinner with the heads of other large business groups. Yonhap

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong / Korea Times file

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, also known as Son Jeong-ui here, is in Korea looking to cement ties with large business groups at a time when the governments in Seoul and Tokyo appear to be heading toward a full-scale trade war, industry analysts said Thursday.

Son met with the heads of Samsung, Hyundai Motor and LG to discuss future growth engines and seek joint business opportunities here and abroad, they said.

This meeting was arranged as the Japanese billionaire expressed a desire to meet with Korea's business leaders after meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

Son reportedly exchanged opinions on fourth generation technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), AI and autonomous driving, with heads of conglomerates.

Whether the meeting between Son and each corporate leader was held alone or together as a group was unknown. But, the Japanese billionaire had a separate dinner with the business tycoons.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun / Korea Times file

The officials said the dinner was attended by Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.

NC Soft Founder and CEO Kim Taek-jin and Naver Founder and GIO Lee Hae-jin also joined the dinner, adding speculation that the main theme of discussion would be securing competitiveness and forming joint ventures.

“Since it was a privately held meeting and dinner, I don't know the exact reason why Son wanted to meet with corporate leaders,” said an industry official, who asked not to be named. “However, one thing that's clear from the meeting is that it had something to do with forming business ties.”

Domestic conglomerates have high hopes for relations with Son because he has massively invested in global tech and mobility companies through the SoftBank Vision Fund.

SoftBank invested $2 billion in Korean e-commerce platform Coupang to accelerate its development of shopping and delivery services.

Earlier in 2015, it spent $1 billion on the retail giant, saying that the Vision Fund's purpose was to invest in “growing businesses run by disruptive innovators.”

He has also invested in Uber and Grab, the largest vehicle-sharing company in Southeast Asia. Son is also the largest shareholder of ARM, a U.K. semiconductor company.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo

The official said “I heard that Lee, who is a close friend of Son, took the lead to arrange the meeting. I'm not sure whether they discussed economic cooperation between Korea and Japan because that is a political issue. But I hope the meeting serves as an opportunity to ease tension.”

Son met with Lee at Samsung Electronics headquarters in 2016. Then, he met with Lee after a meeting with former President Park Geun-hye.

Reflecting upon their close ties, the two are highly likely to share views on semiconductors and AI technologies at the meeting.

Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor declined to comment on the meeting and dinner, citing that they were private matters.