CJ to Invest 20 Trillion KRW Over 5 Years in Content, Food, and Platforms... Hiring 25,000 New Employees

Investing 12 Trillion Won in Content and Food, 7 Trillion Won in Platforms by 2026
Expecting to Employ Over 5,000 People Annually

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] CJ Group announced on the 30th that it will concentrate an investment of 20 trillion KRW over the next five years in business areas leading future lifestyles such as content and food, and will hire more than 25,000 new employees.

In the group’s mid-term vision announced last November, CJ designated Culture, Platform, Wellness, and Sustainability as the four major growth engines, and future investments and employment will also expand based on the same framework.

In the cultural sector, which attracted global attention again following Parasite with two films CJ invested in and distributed at the Cannes Film Festival, “Decision to Leave” and “Broker,” winning Best Director and Best Actor respectively, investments amount to 12 trillion KRW, the largest share. This includes ▲production and securing production capabilities of “well-made content” targeting the global market ▲development of future-type food ▲securing food production facilities.

A group official said, “Since the mid-1990s when the industrial base was minimal, CJ has steadily invested in cultural businesses such as films and dramas for over 25 years, opening the way for the cultural industry to leap to a global level and leading this advancement. We will continue to be the main player in strengthening the status of K-brands in the ‘soft power’ sector through aggressive investment.”

In the platform sector including logistics and commerce, a total of 7 trillion KRW will be invested to expand infrastructure in response to the rapid growth of the e-commerce and m-commerce markets. CJ Logistics, Korea’s No.1 logistics company, will secure logistics operational competitiveness by strengthening e-commerce optimized infrastructure and systems, while K-beauty platform CJ Olive Young will advance marketing and services using IT technology and expand its global sales ratio.

More than 1 trillion KRW will be invested in the wellness and sustainability sectors as well. The focus is on future-type new materials investment such as expanding production facilities for eco-friendly biodegradable plastic materials (PHA) that decompose naturally in seawater. CJ will also promote the advancement of bio pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) facilities and natural premium materials.

CJ expects that if these future lifestyle investments proceed successfully, it will be able to hire more than 5,000 new employees annually until 2026. A CJ official said, “We expect to create between 25,000 and nearly 30,000 jobs over the next five years.”