Meetings with Reflection AI Founder and Skydance CEO
Jung Yongjin, Chairman of Shinsegae Group, strengthened his global network by attending a Christmas dinner hosted by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and holding a series of meetings in Florida and Los Angeles (LA) with key figures such as Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump, Misha Laskin, founder of Reflection AI, and David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance.
Jung Yongjin, Chairman of Shinsegae Group (left), and Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce (right).
According to Shinsegae Group on December 21, Chairman Jung met with Donald Trump Jr. and the executives of 1789 Capital at the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida on December 16. 1789 Capital is an investment firm in which Donald Trump Jr. is involved. Omid Malik and Christopher Buskirk, co-founders of 1789 Capital, also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Chairman Jung discussed the possibility of Shinsegae Group participating in the Florida Palm Beach development project led by 1789 Capital. Shinsegae Group plans to conduct a feasibility study on the project.
Chairman Jung also met with Misha Laskin, founder of Reflection AI. Reflection AI is a company founded by leading researchers from Google DeepMind. The company has recently attracted investments totaling 2 billion dollars from firms including Nvidia, making it one of the most prominent companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Misha Laskin is a developer who played a leading role in Google DeepMind's Gemini project after working at the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab. Misha Laskin traveled to Florida specifically to meet with Chairman Jung and proposed collaboration opportunities between Shinsegae Group and Reflection AI.
Reflection AI is developing autonomous AI agents-systems that can understand goals, formulate plans, execute actions, and evaluate and revise results without explicit human instructions. During the meeting, the two discussed the potential integration of Reflection AI's technology into Shinsegae Group's core businesses. If the development of autonomous AI agents is successful, the technology is expected to be applicable to every stage of distribution, including product planning, sourcing, supply chain management, store operations, marketing, sales, and customer service.
Chairman Jung Yongjin's extensive itinerary, which included meetings with the highest-ranking figures in U.S. politics and business in Washington D.C., Florida, and LA, is seen as a move to solidify his global network and focus on discovering new growth engines for Shinsegae Group through various business collaborations.
After moving to LA, Chairman Jung met with David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, on December 18. David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, established the Hollywood production company Skydance and, after acquiring Paramount last year, now serves as CEO of the merged entity.
At this meeting, Chairman Jung and Ellison discussed ways to enhance synergies between Shinsegae Group and Skydance Group. They reviewed the status of their investment cooperation in the Hwaseong International Theme Park and discussed product development utilizing Paramount's intellectual property. Last year, Shinsegae Group selected Paramount as its global brand partner for the development of the Hwaseong International Theme Park.
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