Vote showdown over KT CEO Yoon Kyung-rim appointment
SKT and LGU+ appoint new directors
Add rental and MyData business purposes to establish new business foundation
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] Starting with LG Uplus on the 17th, the three major telecommunications companies will begin their shareholders' meetings. The biggest issues this year in the telecom 3 companies' shareholders' meeting season are the appointment of CEOs and the reorganization of the board of directors.
LG Uplus will hold the earliest shareholders' meeting among the three companies at its Yongsan headquarters in Seoul on this day. They proposed an agenda to appoint CFO Yeom Myeong-hee as an inside director. This is the first time a female inside director has been appointed at LG Uplus. Outside directors Yoon Sung-soo and Eom Yun-mi will be reappointed.
The most attention-grabbing meeting among the telecom 3 companies' shareholders' meetings is KT's meeting on the 31st. They are set to vote on the appointment of Yoon Kyung-rim, KT Group Transformation Division Head (President), as CEO. Since the ruling party has continuously signaled opposition, the largest shareholder, the National Pension Service, is highly likely to cast a dissenting vote against candidate Yoon. The second-largest shareholder, Hyundai Motor Group, is also expected to align with the National Pension Service. On the other hand, minority shareholders have expressed support for candidate Yoon. As of the afternoon of the 15th, the Naver cafe 'KT Shareholders' Meeting' has gathered 1,400 minority shareholders holding a total of 3,495,000 shares. Although this accounts for only about 1.3% of the total issued shares, it symbolizes that minority shareholders have voiced their opinions. Foreign shareholders, who account for 44%, generally follow proxy advisory firms, and Glass Lewis, one of the two major proxy advisory firms, has recommended shareholders approve candidate Yoon's appointment. A showdown between the National Pension Service and minority shareholders and foreign shareholders is expected.
Additionally, KT plans to appoint Seo Chang-seok, KT Network Division Head, and Song Kyung-min, KT SAT CEO, as new inside directors for a one-year term. By appointing Seo, they emphasize the importance of their core telecommunications business. CEO Song is leading KT's management stabilization task force and is expected to play a role in quickly establishing candidate Yoon's system. They also proposed reappointing outside directors Kang Chung-gu, Yeo Eun-jung, and Pyoh Yeon-myeong, whose terms are ending, for another one-year term.
SK Telecom, holding its shareholders' meeting on the 28th, will newly appoint Oh Hye-yeon, head of the KAIST Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, as an outside director. Presenting a vision to transform into an 'AI company,' they selected AI expert Oh to secure AI capabilities. In addition, they will reappoint directors Kim Yong-hak and Kim Jun-mo, whose terms are expiring.
This shareholders' meeting will also lay the groundwork to secure momentum for new business initiatives. KT will add 'facility rental business' to its business objectives, aiming to operate a rental business in the digital platform company (Digico) B2C sector. LG Uplus, having obtained the main permit for MyData (a system allowing individuals to autonomously manage and utilize their personal information) from the Financial Services Commission last year and making it one of their key growth engines, will add 'personal credit information management business and its concurrent and incidental businesses under the Credit Information Use and Protection Act' to its business objectives. This shareholders' meeting is expected to mark the start of full-scale MyData business operations.
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