'Annual Salary Nearing 3.9 Billion Won'... Who Is the CJ Employee Earning More Than the Chairman?

Park Min-seok CJ CheilJedang Management Leader Tops with 3.8 Billion KRW
Heo In-cheol Orion Group Vice Chairman Also at Owner Family Level

Last year, among professional managers excluding owner families in the distribution industry, Park Min-seok, the business leader of CJ CheilJedang, received the highest salary. Park received more compensation than CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun. Additionally, former Shinsegae Group President Kwon Hyuk-gu received retirement pay exceeding 6.7 billion KRW at once.

According to the business reports disclosed on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 5th, Park received a total of 3.899 billion KRW last year, including a salary of 3.337 billion KRW, a bonus of 433 million KRW, and other labor income of 129 million KRW. This is the highest among professional managers in the distribution industry. Park Min-seok was recruited in 2022 as the head of the Food Business Division at CJ CheilJedang.

Highest Salary Among Distribution Industry Professional Managers... Park Min-seok, Head of Food Business Division at CJ CheilJedang

Park's compensation exceeds that of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun (3.64 billion KRW) and CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik (3.55 billion KRW). A CJ CheilJedang official explained, "Park Min-seok, head of the Food Business Division, was recruited at a level comparable to the top executives of Mondel?z, a global top-tier company, and the contract terms at the time of recruitment were applied."

Park joined CJ CheilJedang in March 2022. He is a former Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Mondel?z, one of the world's top three food companies. Having worked at major global food and distribution companies such as the US retail giant Target, consulting firm McKinsey, and toy company LEGO, he is a strategy expert in the global food and distribution industry, supporting CJ CheilJedang's global K-food strategy. In particular, leading CJ CheilJedang's seven global strategic foods (dumplings, chicken, P-Rice, K-sauce, kimchi, seaweed, and rolls), he is spearheading efforts to target key regions including North America, Europe, and Australia. Park also achieved a milestone last year by recording overseas food business sales surpassing domestic sales for the first time on a quarterly basis in Q4.

The second highest salary among professional managers was Heo In-cheol, Vice Chairman of Orion Group. Heo received a total of 3.602 billion KRW, including 2.377 billion KRW from Orion and 1.225 billion KRW from Orion Holdings. This amount is equal to the salary of Vice Chairman Lee Hwa-kyung, wife of Orion Group Chairman Dam Cheol-gon. Chairman Dam received 4.631 billion KRW in compensation last year.

Heo is recognized as an expert in finance and organizational management. He joined Samsung Group in 1986 and moved to Shinsegae Group in 1997, where he distinguished himself. He led the corporate split of Shinsegae Group into Shinsegae and E-Mart in 2011 and was later promoted to President of Shinsegae Group's Management Strategy Office. In 2012, he became CEO of E-Mart. He was recruited as Vice Chairman of Orion in 2014 and has concurrently served as CEO of the holding company Orion Holdings since 2017.

After becoming Vice Chairman, Heo significantly restructured Orion, growing the company to sales of 2.9124 trillion KRW last year, nearing the '3 trillion club.' Notably, Orion's operating profit margin reached 16.9%. Considering that the typical operating profit margin in the domestic food industry ranges from 3% to 10%, this is an industry-leading level.

Following them, the top executives of CJ ENM ranked 3rd and 4th. Gu Chang-geun, business leader of CJ ENM, earned 1.959 billion KRW, and Nam Seung-yong, business leader of CJ ENM, earned 1.636 billion KRW. They lead CJ ENM's entertainment division. The 5th place was Kim Sang-hyun, Vice Chairman of Lotte Shopping, who received a total compensation of 1.603 billion KRW, including a salary of 1.5 billion KRW, a bonus of 101 million KRW, and other labor income of 1.8 million KRW.

Former Shinsegae President Kwon Hyuk-gu Received Generous Retirement Pay

Including retirement pay, former Shinsegae Group President Kwon Hyuk-gu received the highest total compensation in the distribution industry, amounting to 9.168 billion KRW. Kwon received 3.677 billion KRW, including 2.716 billion KRW in retirement pay from Shinsegae, and 5.491 billion KRW, including 4.021 billion KRW in retirement pay from E-Mart. The retirement pay from the two companies alone totaled 6.737 billion KRW.

Kwon was regarded as a strategic planning expert within Shinsegae Group. He joined Shinsegae in 1987 and was responsible for major new business strategies for Shinsegae and E-Mart, including E-Mart store development and the Shinsegae Busan Centum City store task force (TF). He served as head of the strategic planning team during the 2011 physical split of Shinsegae and E-Mart and led the group's control tower, the Group Strategy Office, as head of management strategy from 2015 until last year. The Strategy Office operates directly under Lee Myung-hee, the Chairwoman of Shinsegae Group.

The second place was former Hyundai Department Store President Kim Hyung-jong, who received a total of 5.887 billion KRW, including 4.613 billion KRW in retirement pay. Kim joined Hyundai Department Store in 1985 and held key positions such as head of the management improvement team in the planning and coordination headquarters, head of the living goods business division, and head of the merchandise headquarters. In 2012, he became CEO of Hansome, a fashion affiliate acquired by Hyundai Department Store Group. In 2020, as CEO of Hyundai Department Store, he successfully established The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, and led the renewal of six stores including the main Apgujeong branch, Pangyo branch, and Daegu branch, driving Hyundai Department Store's performance.

Former Nongshim Vice Chairman Park Jun received a total of 5.65 billion KRW, including 5.395 billion KRW in retirement pay. Park is a 'Nongshim man' who worked at Nongshim for 31 years and 7 months. After retiring from Nongshim in March last year, he moved to become CEO of Nongshim Holdings. Other notable names in the rankings include former Hyundai Home Shopping CEO Lim Dae-gyu (total 3.979 billion KRW including retirement pay of about 2.4 billion KRW) and former E-Mart CEO Kang Hee-seok (3.925 billion KRW total, including 1.74 billion KRW retirement pay).

Executives Earning More Than Their Supervisors

There were also many professional managers earning higher salaries than their supervisors. Lee Chang-yeop, Vice President of Lotte Wellfood, received 1.137 billion KRW, which is more than Lee Young-gu, Vice Chairman of Lotte Wellfood, who was promoted at the end of last year and earned 972 million KRW. Lotte Wellfood operates under a three-person co-CEO system with Shin Dong-bin as Chairman, Lee Young-gu as President, and Lee Chang-yeop as Vice President.

Vice President Lee is the first external CEO of Lotte Wellfood. He is a global consumer goods expert with 30 years of experience, especially known for his expertise in the North American market. Starting at Korea P&G in 1993, he served as head of Hershey Korea, CEO of Coca-Cola Korea, and from 2019 to 2022, he was COO of LG Household & Health Care's business division and CEO of its US subsidiary, The Avon Company. After joining Lotte Wellfood last year, Vice President Lee is actively targeting the North American market. At this year's regular shareholders' meeting, Lotte Wellfood presented a global business strategy aiming to increase the overseas sales ratio from about 20% to up to 50% by 2027 by targeting the North American market.

In the case of Haitai Confectionery & Foods, CEO Shin Jeong-hoon received a salary of 1.58 billion KRW, which is more than Crown Haitai Chairman Yoon Young-dal's 1.38 billion KRW. CEO Shin is Chairman Yoon's son-in-law.