New CEO Jeong Cheol-dong takes on important responsibility for LGD’s business restructuring project
Sales more than doubled during 5 years of tenure as President of LG Innotek
“Apple’s business performance must be transferred to LGD to turn a profit”
LGD CEO Jeong Ho-young leaves without completing business restructuring
Jeong Cheol-dong, president of LG Innotek, takes office as the new CEO of LG Display, which is in crisis due to operating losses for six consecutive quarters. Jeong Cheol-dong, the new CEO of LG Display, more than doubled the company’s sales during his five years as president of LG Innotek. President Chung has achieved outstanding results in the Apple business and is said to be highly respected within the LG Group.
LG Display announced on the 23rd that it conducted the 2024 executive personnel reshuffle (dated January 1, 2024), which included the appointment of President Jeong Cheol-dong as the new CEO at the regular board meeting. New CEO Jeong Cheol-dong will officially begin work on December 1, and will be officially appointed as CEO through the general shareholders’ meeting and board of directors in March next year.
The background to President Jeong Cheol-dong’s appointment as the new CEO of LG Display is his outstanding ‘Apple Business’ performance. President Jeong Cheol-dong was appointed as the president of LG Innotek in December 2018 and led the company for five years until this month, more than doubling the company’s sales. LG Innotek’s annual sales jumped from KRW 8.3 trillion (KRW 400 billion in operating profit) in 2019 to KRW 19.6 trillion (KRW 1.27 trillion in operating profit) in 2022.
At the end of 2020, China’s O-Film was excluded from Apple’s camera module supply chain due to allegations of violating the human rights of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and LG Innotek took advantage of the sluggish performance of Japan’s Sharp (acquired by Taiwan’s Foxconn) to significantly increase its market share in the Apple camera module market. Currently, LG Innotek’s market share in the high-end model market among Apple camera modules is overwhelming.
In addition, new CEO Jeong Cheol-dong strengthened the company’s profitability by withdrawing from loss-making businesses, such as the smartphone main substrate (HDI) business in 2019 and the light-emitting diode (LED) business in 2020, when he was president of LG Innotek.
New CEO Jeong Cheol-dong has the task of transplanting these business results to LG Display. Following an operating loss of 2 trillion won last year, LG Display is in a serious situation, with an operating loss expected to be in the mid-2 trillion won range this year as well.
In addition to small and medium-sized businesses such as Apple iPhone organic light emitting diode (OLED) and areas with high profitability or growth such as automotive displays, LG Display is faced with the task of improving the large OLED business for TVs, which has a low utilization rate, and reducing the large liquid crystal display (LCD) business. there is.
New CEO Jeong Cheol-dong previously served as managing director in charge of production technology, executive director of the production technology center, and vice president of chief production officer at LG Display. It is known that the new CEO Chung has strong trust within the LG Group. There are also observations that if new CEO Chung improves LG Display’s performance, he can expect to be promoted to vice president in the future. Because of the size of sales, it is difficult for him to become vice chairman as the president of LG Innotek, but he can become the president of LG Display.
On the other hand, LG Display President Chung Ho-young, who is stepping down this time, leaves without completing the task of business restructuring. The number of LG Display executives and employees, which was 29,000 at the end of September 2019 when CEO Chung Ho-young took office, decreased to 26,000 at the end of December 2020, and then increased again to 29,000 at the end of 2022. As of the end of June this year, the number decreased slightly to 28,000. When CEO Ho-young Chung was retained at the end of last year, there was speculation in the industry that he would complete a one-year business restructuring in 2023 and step down from his position. Although he eventually stepped down, his business restructuring was never completed and the company’s financial situation worsened.
Meanwhile, LG Display announced the promotion of one person to vice president, one person to executive director, and the appointment of a new managing director in the 2024 regular executive personnel reshuffle.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Kim Seong-hyun, who said at the general shareholders’ meeting last March, “I will work harder and reflect on myself to achieve good results this year,” was promoted to vice president. Seok Myung-soo, managing director of the Vietnamese branch, who improved production capabilities by upgrading the Vietnamese subsidiary’s production operation system and quality control capabilities and early training of local personnel, was promoted to executive director. Six people were newly appointed as managing directors, including Executive Director Choi Nak-bong, who contributed to strengthening product competitiveness by improving smartphone OLED performance and reliability, and Executive Director Kwak Tae-hyung, who was recognized for his achievements in developing differentiated core materials and new business and new technology materials for OLED TV cost innovation.
The Elec = Reporter Lee Ki-jong gjgj@thelec.kr
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2023-11-23 08:41:00
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