CEOs of companies affiliated with South Korea's five leading business groups are more than 58 years old on average, a corporate tracker said on Nov. 12, 2018, stoking speculation over a possible generational change during their year-end C-suite reshuffles.
The average age of 122 CEOs at the top five family-controlled conglomerates -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, LG and Lotte -- comes in at 58.1 years, according to CEO Score, which tracks corporate management.
LG Group's CEOs are the oldest on average at 60.9 years, followed by Hyundai Motor and Lotte with 59.3 each, Samsung with 57.4 and SK with 55.8.
LG Chem Vice Chairman and CEO Park Jin-soo is the oldest at 66. Park entered LG 42 years ago and has recently announced his retirement from management.
He is the second-longest-serving CEO with seven years, trailing Cha Suk-yong, vice chairman LG Household & Health Care, 66, who has been at the helm of South Korea's second-largest cosmetics firm for 14 years.
The youngest CEO is Kim Kyung-yup, who is 48 years old and heads Hyundai Information Technology, a unit of Lotte. He is trailed by Chung Chan-il, the 49-year-old CEO of NanoEnTek under SK Group.
There are 46 CEOs in their 60s, accounting for 38 percent of the total and raising expectations they may leave to make room for new blood when the conglomerates reshuffle their top managers at the end of the year.
Hyundai Motor Group, the top automaking group and No. 2 conglomerate, has as many as 10 sexagenarian CEOs, and top conglomerate Samsung retains five CEOs in their 60s, according to the industry tracker. (Yonhap)