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| Chung Chul-khil, CEO of SK Innovation | Jang Dong-hyun, CEO of SK Telecom | Moon Jong-hoon, CEO of SK Networks | Park Jung-ho, |
By Park Si-soo
SK Group changed chief executives of its major affiliates Tuesday in a year-end reshuffle aimed at better coping with what it described as a "structured" crisis facing the country's third-largest conglomerate.
Kim Chang-geun, head of the group's top decision-making body, the SUPEX Council, retained his position, while the conglomerate's four biggest affiliates ㅡ SK Innovation, SK Telecom (SKT), SK Networks and SK C&C ㅡ were put under the control of new leaders. SK hynix CEO Park Sung-wook was retained amid record-breaking sales for two consecutive years.
Chung Chul-khil, president of SK C&C, was named the new CEO of SK Innovation, Korea's biggest oil refiner. Chung will also lead SK Energy.
Jang Dong-hyun, chief operating officer of SK Planet, was promoted to president of SK Telecom, the country's No.1 mobile carrier.
Moon Jong-hoon, a secretary general of the SUPEX, was appointed as CEO of SK Networks, a trading company.
Park Jung-ho, vice president of SK C&C, was promoted to the company's presidency.
A total of 117 executives were promoted through the reshuffle carried out with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won behind bars. He was previously jailed for four years for embezzlement. The group is making an all-out effort to get him freed prior to the end of his sentence.
"We carefully selected people with strong leadership, with which the group can push forward strategic innovation. This will make it possible for SK to better cope with the deteriorating business environment and prolonged leadership vacuum," said Kim Chang-geun, SK Group's vice chairman and head of the SUPEX, in a statement.
SK officials said the reshuffle was smaller in size than previous years, indicating that the group's decision-makers opted to make passive changes in the chairman's absence.
Officials said the SK Innovation president will be tasked with accelerating the globalization of the firm's businesses, in addition to coming up with a breakthrough for a "structured" crisis facing the country's energy industry.
The new SKT CEO's primary mission will be finding momentum to reignite growth in the domestic mobile carrier market.
The incoming SK Networks CEO will be responsible for bringing the troubled trading firm back on track. The new SK C&C president is pressed to develop a new growth engine.
Despite the reshuffle, share prices of the four major affiliates slipped altogether ㅡ SK Innovation closed at 84,300 won, down 1,900 won or 2.2 percent; SKT closed at 281,000 won, down 2,500 won or 0.88 percent; SK Networks closed at 8,810 won, down 300 won or 3.29 percent; and SK C&C closed at 211,500 won, down 6,000 won or 2.76 percent.
Ironically, SK hynix, whose leadership remains unchanged, saw its stock price increase to close at 49,450 won, up 800 won or 1.64 percent.
The benchmark KOSPI closed at 1970.95, down 8 points or 0.4 percent.
