Koo Kwang-mo Becomes Fourth-Generation LG Group Chief

Koo Kwang-mo on Friday officially became the fourth-generation head of LG Group, having been named as its board member and Chief Executive Officer some five weeks after being nominated for the two roles. The adopted son of Chairman Koo Bon-moo who died last month after refusing life support following numerous brain surgeries will be responsible for the entirety of one of the largest family-run conglomerates in South Korea, commonly referred to as chaebols.
 
Mr. Koo was appointed with no significant opposition from the company’s investors, continuing the tradition of chiefs naming their eldest sons as successors to the fourth most valuable group in the Far Eastern country. The tech giant’s new leader joined the firm in 2006 at its financial unit after studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology. LG Group’s shareholders also voted for high-profile businessman Kim Sang-hun as the firm’s new non-executive director at the Friday meeting. The appointment of Mr. Koo brings LG into the fourth generation of its leaders, with the late Chairman first taking over the company in 1994. He was also the executive who pushed for the tech juggernaut to adopt a holding company structure in 2003 so as to improve its profitability and streamline its path toward long-term growth as part of a move that ended up being a resounding success.
 
The 40-year-old CEO’s family still holds over 40-percent of all LG shares and while the Seoul-based company is presently struggling to revive its mobile business, its overall operations are enjoying historic growth, having generated over a billion-dollar profit in the first three months of 2018 alone. Mr. Koo will assume his new responsibilities immediately and is expected to be leading a July call with analyst and investors after the firm publishes its consolidated financial report for the second quarter of the year in July. The size of LG’s business is only behind that of Samsung, Hyundai, and SK Group in South Korea.

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