LG H&H CEO steps down after 18 years
Cha Suk-yong, who led LG Group’s cosmetics, health and household products maker LG Household &Health Care (H&H) for 18 years, stepped down from his CEO post, the LG Group affiliate said Thursday.
LG H&H said Lee Jung-ae, senior vice president and head of its beverage business, will become its new CEO. Lee is the first female CEO among the LG Group’s affiliates.
In a statement, LG H&H said Cha decided to wrap up his 18-year-long career “in order to pave the way for younger generations,” but the CEO reshuffle is being interpreted as the beauty and healthcare company’s attempt to take a leap forward again, at a time when the company faces sluggish sales of its beauty products in China.
After taking the CEO post in January 2005, Cha made LG H&H a leader in the business. In 2021, the company posted a solid operating profit of 1.29 trillion won ($971.5 million), but its performance plummeted this year as demand for its cosmetics products in China decreased and raw materials prices soared due to the Russia-Ukraine War. In the third quarter, its sales fell 7 percent year-on-year to 1.87 trillion won while its operating profit fell 44.5 percent to 190.1 billion won.
Lee, the new CEO, joined LG H&H in 1986. “The new CEO has served as head of the household goods, luxury cosmetics and beverage businesses. She has a high understanding of the company’s overall business and organization,” LG H&H said.
Among the major conglomerates here, LG Group was the first to carry out a personnel reshuffle of executives this year on Thursday. The country’s fourth-largest conglomerate said it focused on “designing the future” of its affiliates as it named 31 new executives in research and development, and 90 percent of its 114 new executives were born after 1970.