Lotte Group’s family feud: the sibling rivalry that threatens to tear apart one of South Korea’s biggest companies
Shin Dong-joo is attempting to pull off a unique coup in South Korean corporate history – the takeover of one of the country’s giant family-run business groups, known as chaebol
Billionaire Shin Dong-joo has reason to be bitter. In the past couple of years, he’s been suspended by his father, fired by his younger brother and indicted on charges of embezzlement by South Korean prosecutors.
Yet the former No. 2 at Lotte Group remains confident he will clear his name in court, overthrow his brother as chairman and seize control of a business empire that generates more revenue than Google or Airbus. His plan is to take advantage of the group’s complex network of more than 70 cross shareholdings. If he can gain the votes of minority shareholders in one Japanese unit that binds the whole conglomerate together, he says he can effectively control the group.
My final target is to take control of Lotte. My brother and the current management destroyed [Lotte’s] good corporate culture
“My final target is to take control of Lotte,” Shin, 62, said in his office in Seoul in his first interview with foreign media. “My brother and the current management destroyed [Lotte’s] good corporate culture.”
It’s a big if. His brother Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, outguns him in terms of resources and has already fended off numerous coup attempts. The brothers’ given names will be used in this article for clarity.
“No coup has ever succeeded among the chaebol,’’ said Chung Sun-sup, CEO of Chaebul.com, a website that tracks the chaebol.