Lotte’s third-generation heir to tighten grip on retail business

Shin Yoo-yeol, vice president at Lotte Chemical and the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, second from left, pose for a tape-cutting ceremony before the opening of Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam, Sept. 22. Yonhap

Shin Yoo-yeol, the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, is set to tighten his grip on the group’s backbone retail business, in a major generational shift to inject fresh momentum into the firm's struggling retail channels.

The younger Shin, 37, is currently serving as a vice president at Lotte Chemical, but no specifics have so far been confirmed as to what roles he will focus on within the group before taking official managerial control.

Starting this year, however, he has made more frequent public appearances at the group’s key events. In January, the de facto Lotte heir attended the group’s leadership meeting for which the chairman and top executives from its key affiliates discussed the group's future management strategy.

This marked the first time that the eldest son joined the regular meeting where the Lotte leader urged its executives to focus on toughening Lotte’s global competitiveness, as part of its top priority to tackle global economic uncertainty.

The chairman also displayed his affection to the eldest son in September when Lotte Group held an opening ceremony for Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in the Vietnamese capital. He made it public that he was considering positioning the son in a key managerial post in Lotte’s retail business.

The son was also seen attending a tape-cutting ceremony along with top executives from Lotte’s major retail affiliates, including Lotte Department Store and Lotte Shopping.

Given his broad global experiences, there stands a possibility that the Lotte heir may focus on spearheading Lotte’s overseas businesses. He is a Japanese national and is taking on multiple roles within the group.

In a year-end reshuffle of executives last year, he was promoted to the vice president of the chemical arm of Lotte. Shin the younger is co-CEO of Lotte Strategic Investment along with his father. He is also working as a leader of Japan’s Lotte Financial.

He started his career at Nomura Securities back in 2008, received an MBA at Columbia University and worked at the securities firm’s Singapore office until June 2020 when he joined Lotte for management succession.