Lee Hae-jin, the founder of Naver, will return as chairman of the board after seven years.
According to industry sources on the 5th, Naver's board of directors plans to vote on the agenda for Lee Hae-jin's return as an inside director at the shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 7th, just before the earnings announcement. The founder has focused on global business since stepping down from the chairmanship in 2017.
With the chairman's return, more bold strategies are expected to be pursued in key institutional sectors, including AI. In particular, he has emphasized the importance of "sovereign AI," and analyses suggest that the urgent sense of crisis that Naver must survive in the global AI competition influenced this decision.
The chairman has shown active efforts in global AI cooperation, including meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the "AI Seoul Summit" held in Seoul last year.
Meanwhile, CEO Choi Soo-yeon has completed her term, but her reappointment seems likely. Naver has maintained stable management under her leadership, with projected revenue expected to exceed 10 trillion won last year.