TonyMoly appoints new CEO

Yang Chang-soo

By Park Jin-hai

TonyMoly, a Korean cosmetics company, said Monday that it has appointed ex-AmorePacific exec as its CEO.

Yang Chang-soo, 51, will lead the mid-sized cosmetics firm, which went public in July and is fast expanding its global presence.

Yang studied agricultural economics at Korea University before joining AmorePacific, the nation’s largest cosmetics brand. He was in charge of department sales before serving as CEO of its brand Etude House and vice president of marketing. After he left the company, he joined Shinsegae International’s VIDIVICI cosmetics brand as vice president where he worked until the end of 2014.

“While working in the cosmetics industry for a long time, he has earned a reputation as someone who can ratchet up a brand’s potential in a short time through various innovative marketing campaigns,” said a company official.

Previously, the cosmetics maker has been plagued with rumors that its CEOs have had conflicts with its chairman. In the last two years, the company has had five new CEOs including Yang. Before him, there were two other former AmorePacific men at the top job including most recently Ho Jong-hwan who left the job just one month after his appointment.

“After the IPO, in order to cement our status as global cosmetics makers, we have tapped Yang who has great credentials in marketing and sales,” said the company.

The company has been seeing rapid growth at home and abroad, posting 310 billion won in sales from 600 offline outlets and online stores last year.

It is the fourth-largest in sales, following LG Household & Healthcare’s The Face Shop, AmorePacific’s Innisfree and Able C&C’s Missha.

Since its establishment in 2006, TonyMoly has posted double-digit growth in high-demand markets including Hong Kong, the U.S. and Russia.