CEO Shin Dong-bin (Feb 2011–) Founded June 1948, Tokyo, Japan | Founder Shin Kyuk-ho | |
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Industry food processing
retail
financial services
electronics
petro-chemicals
and more Headquarters Jung District, Seoul, South Korea Area served Asia, North America, Europe Key people Shin Kyuk-ho, Shin Dongbin Revenue 67,418,470 million KRW (2011) Operating income Subsidiaries Lotte Duty Free, Lotte Hi-Mart, E. Wedel, Lotteria Profiles | ||
Lotte Co., Ltd. (Hangul: 롯데 ,Katakana: ロッテ ) is a multinational conglomerate with headquarters in South Korea and Japan. Lotte was first established in June 1948 in Tokyo, by Shin Kyuk-ho (신격호) (also known as Takeo Shigemitsu). With the money he earned in Japan, Shin expanded to his home country, South Korea with the establishment of Lotte Confectionery in Seoul on April 3, 1967. Lotte eventually grew to become South Korea's eighth largest business conglomerate. 9 June 2004
Contents
Lotte Group consists of over 60 business units employing 60,000 people engaged in such diverse industries as candy manufacturing, beverages, hotels, fast food, retail, financial services, heavy chemicals, electronics, IT, construction, publishing, and entertainment. Lotte's major operations are overseen by Shin's family in Japan and South Korea, with additional businesses in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, USA, UK, Russia, Philippines, Pakistan and Poland (Lotte bought Poland's largest candy company Wedel from Kraft Foods in June 2010). Today, Lotte is the largest confectionery manufacturer in South Korea, and is the third largest in Japan behind Meiji Seika and Ezaki Glico in terms of sales revenue when only the sales of Lotte's confectioneries are counted.
History
Lotte's first company was founded in June 1948 in Tokyo, by Shin Kyuk-ho, two years after he graduated from Waseda Jitsugyo High School (早稲田実業学校). Originally called Lotte Co., Ltd, the company has grown from selling chewing gum to children in post-war Japan to becoming a major multinational corporation.
In June 2016, companies of the group were raided by South Korean prosecutors, investigating into a possible slush fund as well as breach of trust involving transactions among the group's companies. The investigation forced its Hotel Lotte unit to abandon an initial public offering and Lotte Chemical Corp to withdraw from bidding for Axiall Corp. Its Vice Chairman, Lee In-won, was found dead in August same year. He was suspected of suicide just hours before being questioned by prosecutors. Lee was considered the top lieutenant of Chairman Shin Dongbin.
Name
The source of the company's name is neither Korean nor Japanese, but German. Shin was impressed with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and named his newly founded company Lotte after the character Charlotte in the novel ("Charlotte" is also the name of a new brand of deluxe movie theatres run by Lotte). Lotte's current marketing slogan in Japan is "The sweetheart of your mouth, Lotte" (お口の恋人,ロッテ, Okuchi no koibito, Rotte).
Management
Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. – Lotte group's world headquarters – are located in Myeongdong, Seoul and Shinjuku, Tokyo. It is controlled by the founder Shin Kyuk-Ho's family.
Business
Lotte group's major businesses are food products, shopping, finance, construction, amusement parks, hotels, trade, oil and sports.
Sports
Lotte also owns professional baseball teams