Cho Joo-wan, president of LG Electronics, said on the 25th, "This year, we will secure growth opportunities in overseas regions with high growth potential while changing the new businesses we have been aggressively pursuing to a 'selection and focus' approach to increase the probability of success."
On the same day, President Cho noted at the 2025 regular shareholder meeting held at the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, that "with the deterioration of the management environment, including tariff threats from the United States considered a constant, we will respond by creating a sophisticated scenario while establishing a business structure that remains resilient even in a highly uncertain management environment."
President Cho presented this year's key tasks as ▲expanding the B2B (business-to-business) business area ▲promoting non-hardware business models ▲strengthening promising regional portfolios ▲focusing and selecting new businesses. He stated, "Starting this year, we will add 'region' as a strategic pillar to the existing growth strategy and promote accelerated growth in promising regions with high growth potential," adding that, "We will focus on identifying growth potential and business opportunities in emerging markets represented by the 'Global South', including Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa."
This is a strategy to drive growth, focusing on regions like the Middle East, where numerous IT companies are gathering, and Asia, where AI data centers are expanding. In particular, it focuses on India, the world's most populous country. India is the region where LG Electronics is pursuing its initial public offering (IPO), having recently received preliminary approval for the IPO plans of LG Electronics India from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
President Cho explained, "Among the Global South, India is particularly unique in terms of economic stability and growth potential," and noted that "while the current penetration rate of home appliances is very low, the purchasing power of the middle class is expected to increase significantly as per capita gross domestic product (GDP) enters the $3,000 range starting next year." LG Electronics plans to expand its business areas based on the local business infrastructure it has built over the past 28 years, including strengthening India-specific lineups, production, service, and research and development infrastructure.
New businesses will focus on areas that can enhance synergies with existing LG Electronics businesses. President Cho said, "Until now, we have aggressively pursued new businesses despite the high uncertainty based on industry trends, but in a situation where technological evolution and competition are rapidly changing, we have judged that it is difficult to guarantee success with this approach," adding, "Therefore, we will focus on businesses that can expand based on the company's existing products, technologies, and know-how, as well as new businesses that can establish entry barriers." He cited cooling solutions for data centers and smart factory businesses as examples.
The items on the agenda, including approval of financial statements, approval of amendments to the articles of incorporation, appointment of directors and commissioner members of the audit committee, and approval of director compensation limits, were all voted in as originally proposed. Both internal director Cho and outside director Kwon Bong-seok were reappointed, while outside director Kang Seong-chun, a professor at Seoul National University Business School (vice president of the Korean Society for Human Resource Management), was newly appointed.
The shareholders' meeting that day was held as an 'open shareholders' meeting' to transparently communicate with shareholders and various stakeholders, just like last year. From this year on, simultaneous interpretation services in English have been introduced. To emphasize the commitment to responsible management, key figures from various business units, including Ryu Jae-cheol, president of the Home Appliance Business Unit, Park Hyung-se, president of the Mobile Solutions Business Unit, Eum Seok-hyun, vice president of the Visual Solutions Business Unit, and Lee Jae-sung, vice president of the Energy Solutions Business Unit, explained their strategic tasks and responded to shareholders' questions. LG Electronics' stock has dropped more than 27% compared to last year's peak of 113,500 won.