POSCO Group on Monday replaced chief executives of key seven units in a drastic overhaul of the South Korean steel-to-battery materials group to shift its focus to reform from stability.
The group also cut executive jobs by 15% to better cope with the flood of cheap Chinese imports and the prolonged slowdown in electric vehicle demand amid the sputtering domestic economy.
“A bold generational shift, zero-tolerance on safety incidents and internal promotions were the principles of this management reshuffle,” said a POSCO Group official.
The top mangagement shake-up came 10 months after it carried out a moderate reshuffle at the top brass in February, where the steel giant kept major units’ CEOs in office.
Lee Hee-Geun, head of the facilities robust improvement task force team at steelmaker POSCO, was promoted to lead POSCO Holdings Inc.
Eom Gichen, head of Energy Materials Business Unit at POSCO Future M Co., was appointed as CEO of the battery materials producer.
The reshuffle demonstrates POSCO’s sense of crisis as its bread-and-butter business steel is stumbling with the rise of Chinese rivals.
Steel maker POSCO, accounting for 60% of the group’s earnings, is forecast to report an almost 30% drop to 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in operating profit in 2024, compared with the year prior.
CONSTRUCTION AND IT SERVICE ARMS
Jeong Hee Min, head of POSCO E&C Co.’s Building Works Division, was promoted to lead the construction arm.
Shim Min-Suk, head of Digital Transformation Office at POSCO, was named as CEO of POSCO DX Co., a supplier of IT services such as smart factories and logistics.
As the group is pursuing global expansion through mergers and acquisitions, POSCO Holdings created a future startegy division. Lee Jutae, head of the holding company’s corporate strategy team, will lead the newly-created division.
The number of promoted employees in Monday’s reshuffle shrank to 62, compared with 92 in February.
POSCO Group launched a nuclear energy task force team overseeing nuclear and hydrogen power production. It also set up a team dedicated to investments in India.
Alongside the management shake-up, the conglomerate on Monday announced value-up measures such as enhancing shareholder returns and making more frequent dividend payments, as well as share buybacks.
By Hyung-Kyu Kim
khk@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
