SK Group conducts major CEO shakeup

SK Telecom CEO replaced; Chairman’s kid brother rises By Oh Young-jin SK Group Friday conducted a major reshuffle of top executives, which can also be considered a generational shift. The shift comes at a time when the group is trying to transform itself. SKT CEO Jung Man-won was replaced by his subordinate Ha Seung-min for what is widely seen for not being able to to maintain its subscriber base in the face of an onslaught by its rival, the second-placed KT on the back of iPhone popularity. Also noted is the rise of Chey Jae-won, the group chairman Chey Tae-won’s younger brother and vice chairman of SK Holdings, who is now leading the team of vice chairmen, which was newly launched as the result of the shakeup. The younger Chey leads SK Holdings jointly with his brother, who controls the fourth-largest conglomerate also as CEO and chairman of SK Energy, a key cash generator. “The team of vice chairmen is a key decision-making body that will assist Chairman Chey Tae-won,” an SK official said. “In case that the chairman is unable to fulfill his duties, the younger Chey would take over.” The group includes Jung Man-won, who led SKT before this reshuffle, Kim Shin-bae, who is Jung’s predecessor as SKT chief and vice chairman and CEO of SK Networks, and Park Yong-ho, SK China president, together with two presidents. “The primary task of these chairmen are looking ahead and finding new growth engines for our group,” the PR official said, pointing out that this team is covering two organizations: Tech Innovation Center and Growth and Global. “The vice chairmen, however, won’t be involved in day-to-day operations of subsidiaries,” he said. Industry watchers view the shakeup as being motivated by the falling status of SKT as the market leader. New SKT CEO Ha Sung-min has been the vice president in charge of SK Telecom's network division. He will start to work in his new capacity from next year, with his appointment to be made final at the shareholders meeting slated for March. Seo Jin-woo will be the non-CEO SKT president. Bae Joon-dong will take over from Ha as head of SK Telecom's network business, overseeing the company's largest division, the company said. If it is true that Ha’s rise is attributable to the success of the iPhone, its maker Apple cost two top jobs at Korea’s major telecom and tech firms. The first was Nam Yong, who was fired as LG Electronics CEO for his strategic mistake in the smartphone business that put Korea’s second largest electronics firms in a major lurch. Nam’s successor is Koo Bon-joon, the younger brother of LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo. SKT accounted for 50.6 percent of a 50.6 million-unit mobile phone market as of November, down 0.1 percentage point from January, according to government data. KT claimed 31.6 percent of the market, up 0.3 percentage point in the same period. SKT posted a year-to-year 14.3 percent tumble in the first quarter and a 10.8 percent drop in the third quarter. Many reasons are cited for SKT’s poor performance, one being its former CEO Jung’s insistence on vending Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S smartphones. However, many argue that the problem is more structural, adding that Jung isn’t solely to blame for all the firm’s woes.

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