CJ Group Chief unveils $8.5 billion investment plans for growth
Sul-Li Jun and Jong-Kwan Park
Nov 04, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
South Korea’s CJ Group, which operates the country’s largest food and beverage company CJ Cheiljedang Corp. as well as entertainment giant CJ ENM Co., has unveiled a 10 trillion won ($8.5 billion) mid-term growth plan.
The conglomerate said on Wednesday its investment plan will focus on four growth areas – culture, platforms, wellness and sustainability – until 2023.
“The speed of our business growth has slowed over the past few years as we were afraid of bold decisions on new growth drivers. We haven’t been well prepared for the future,” Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun said in an online message to employees.
He said the conglomerate will particularly spend 4.3 trillion won on securing intangible assets such as brand, innovative technologies, artificial intelligence, big data and new talent.
CJ Group, which also owns retail and logistics firms such as CJ Logistics, CJ CGV, and Korea’s largest beauty store chain CJ Olive Young, said it will strive to further enhance its brand awareness in the food and entertainment sectors globally.
It will develop new product lines through CJ Cheiljedang, which sells mandu (dumplings) and other frozen meals under the Bibigo brand.
TO BEEF UP BIBIGO, STUDIO DRAGON PRODUCTS
CJ ENM, which manages streaming service provider Tving and film production company Studio Dragon Corp., will seek to set up additional production houses by genre to ride on the global popularity of Hallyu or the Korean Wave.