O Sang-hoon, CEO of CHA Biotech, will resign at the end of this month for personal reasons after leading the company for six years.
According to CHA Biotech on the 25th, the board is expected to approve CEO O's resignation at the end of this month. Prior to that, O will hold an online video conference for farewell remarks with CHA Biotech employees on the 27th. The company stated about the background of his resignation and the successor, "It is a matter that needs to go through the board, so we cannot disclose it," adding, "We plan to announce it later."
O graduated from the Department of Economics at Sogang University and handled strategic planning and overseas business at Samsung Electronics and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance before serving as CEO of CHA Health Systems USA from 2016, overseeing the CHA hospital medical network in the United States. He became the CEO of CHA Biotech in 2019.
There are also potential changes in CHA Biotech's business structure and management succession. The largest individual shareholder of CHA Biotech is founder Cha Kwang-ryeol, chairman of the CHA Hospital and Bio Group, who held a 5.83% stake as of the end of last year. Following him, his eldest son Cha Won-tae, vice president of CHA Hospital, holds a 4.23% stake.
CHA Biotech plans to merge its unlisted subsidiaries, CHA Healthcare and CHA Cares, by June next year. CHA Healthcare, a hospital operation specialist company that was spun off from CHA Biotech in 2013, is the largest shareholder of CHA Biotech. Currently, it operates over 90 hospitals in seven countries, including the United States, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.