CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun visited London to assess the potential for expanding business in Europe and to secure future growth drivers. It follows visits to Japan in Apr. and the United States in Aug. It signals a resolve to speed up new-territory expansion in the global market.
According to CJ Group on the 22nd, the chairman visited London starting on the 9th with key executives from the holding company and affiliates. Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung of CJ, CEO Kim Hong-gi of CJ Corporation, CEO Yoon Sang-hyun of CJ ENM, and Jung Jong-hwan, head of content and global business at CJ ENM, were among the core leadership accompanying him.
This is Lee Jae-hyun's first on-site management tour in Europe. It is seen as highlighting the importance of Europe in CJ Group's global territory expansion. After a visit to Saudi Arabia last year, the chairman has been ramping up on-site global management this year with trips to Japan and the United States.
The chairman said, "To leap forward as global leading corporations, we must accelerate expansion into new territories, including Europe," adding, "Following the United States, the group's global business hub, we should actively identify new growth opportunities in the European market, which has significant potential."
In particular, meeting with local employees, the chairman said, "Do not miss the K-wave spreading across Europe on all fronts; quickly secure the local market and rise as a 'pan-European top-tier player,'" and added, "Increase the speed of global territory expansion so that Europe can emerge as the next strategic region following the United States."
During this on-site tour, the chairman met with key figures in related industries, including global think tanks, investment firms, and entertainment experts, to explore opportunities for local cooperation. At the same time, he reviewed European consumer trends and local K-trends and checked the group's global strategy.
On this European visit, the chairman first met Len Blavatnik, founder of the global investment firm Access Industries, to share the current state of the global media and entertainment markets and discuss strategic collaboration to spread K-content and strengthen platform competitiveness. He also met Bronwen Maddox, director of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the United Kingdom, one of the world's top diplomacy and security think tanks, to assess the impact of changes in the trade environment on the European market and related business opportunities.
In particular, in a meeting with Oxford University professor Cho Ji-eun, a K-trend expert, they examined Europe's cultural consumption trends and the potential spread to K-food and K-beauty. In addition, he met sports experts such as Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of the UAE's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and co-founder of City Football Group, which owns 13 clubs globally including Manchester City FC, and Michael Payne, head of Payne Sports Media Strategies and former inaugural Director General of marketing at the IOC, to discuss strategies for using sports marketing by global consumer-goods and content corporations.
A CJ Group official said, "This on-site management in the United Kingdom is part of global territory expansion linking Asia, the Americas, and Europe, and a strategic move to underpin the group's future growth," adding, "Focusing on the group's core businesses—food, beauty, and entertainment—we will build differentiated competitiveness in the global market."