With Korean pop culture sweeping Europe, South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, whose empire spans media, entertainment, food, beauty, biotech and logistics, is zeroing in on the continent as its next growth market after the US under the direction of its chief.
CJ Chairman Lee Jay-hyun spent 10 days in the UK earlier this month, meeting with prominent global media and consumer industry leaders to explore new business opportunities, CJ said Monday.
It was his first business trip to Europe, following visits to the US and Japan earlier this year and Saudi Arabia last year.
The chairman urged executives to accelerate the group’s advance into new territories to become a global leader, calling Europe “a market of immense potential” where CJ should seize fresh growth opportunities, especially with cultural content.
“We can’t afford to miss the momentum of the Korean wave here (in Europe),” Lee said after the trip.
“We need to move fast, establish ourselves as a pan-European player and make Europe our next strategic region after the US.”
CJ has grown into a major business player in the US food, logistics and entertainment scenes since its first advance into the world’s largest consumer market with an $300 million investment in a Hollywood studio, DreamWorks, in 1995.
During his UK trip, Lee was accompanied by CJ Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee, CJ Corp. CEO Kim Hong-ki, CJ ENM Co. CEO Yoon Sang-hyun and Jung Jong-hwan, who oversees content and global operations at CJ ENM, a lineup underscoring the group’s big bet on entertainment in Europe.
CJ first entered the region in 2018 through its food business.
MEDIA AND CONSUMER HEAVYWEIGHTS
In London, Lee met Len Blavatnik, founder of a global investment firm Access Industries, with a portfolio of over $35 billion, which include Warner Music Group and sports-streaming platform DAZN.
The two discussed ways to deepen penetration of Korean content across the world and potential partnerships to strengthen the platform business, CJ said.
He also sat down with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala Investment Co., a $302 billion sovereign investment firm in Abu Dhabi with assets in more than 50 countries, and the founding chairman of City Football Group, which owns 13 soccer clubs worldwide, including Manchester City FC.
They exchanged views on sports marketing strategies used by global consumer and content companies.
Other meetings included Michael Payne, the International Olympic Committee’s first marketing director and now head of Payne Sports Media Strategies, and Oxford University professor Joe Ji-eun, an expert on Korean cultural trends, to discuss prospects for K-food and K-beauty in Europe.
CJ ENM, the group’s entertainment arm, is pushing to widen its presence in Europe through Korean films and TV series and variety shows.
“With the growing popularity of K-pop and Korean films across Europe, there is ample room for CJ to expand its entertainment business,” a CJ official said.
“We also see opportunities to connect that growth with our food and beauty businesses.”
Its food subsidiary CJ CheilJedang Corp., Korea’s largest food company, has operations in the UK, Germany, France and Hungary, and owns a German frozen food company through an acquisition.
A new food plant in Hungary is expected to open next year.
CJ Olive Young Corp., its beauty store chain operator that is also Korea’s largest, opened its global online mall in 2021, initially reaching customers in 16 European countries, including the UK, France and Germany.
Its footprint has since broadened into 26 countries on the continent.
By Jong-Seo Park
cosmos@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
