Lotte Corporation (or Lotte Group) is a South Korean multinational conglomerate

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

, and the fifth-largest

chaebol A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...

in South Korea. Lotte began its history on June 28, 1948, by Korean businessman Shin Kyuk-ho in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Shin expanded Lotte to his ancestral country, South Korea, with the establishment of

Lotte Confectionery Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean confectionery company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was established in 1967. Currently, it is the third-largest chewing gum manufacturer in the world, and its plants are locat ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

on April 3, 1967. Lotte Corporation consists of over 90 business units employing 60,000 people engaged in such diverse industries as candy manufacturing, beverages,

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

, retail, financial services, industrial chemicals, electronics, IT, construction, publishing, and entertainment. Lotte runs additional businesses in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(Lotte bought Poland's largest candy company

Wedel Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Middle Ages The first known mention of ...

from

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

in June 2010),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(Lotte successfully bought 4 duty free stores in Australia and 1 in New Zealand from JR/Group in 2019).

History

Lotte was founded in June 1948, by Korean businessman Shin Kyuk-ho in

, Japan, two years after he graduated from Waseda Jitsugyo High School (). Originally called ''Lotte Co., Ltd'', the company has grown from selling

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its te ...

to children in post-war Japan to becoming a major

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

Name

The source of the company's name is neither Korean nor Japanese, or even Chinese, but German. Shin Kyuk-ho was impressed with

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

's ''

The Sorrows of Young Werther ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; german: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm ...

'' (1774) and named his newly founded company Lotte after the character Charlotte in the novel. ("Charlotte" is also the name of premium auditoriums in movie theatres run by Lotte.) Lotte's current

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...

in Japan is .

Operations

''Lotte Corporation'' – Lotte group's world headquarters – is located in

Songpa-gu Songpa-gu (Hangul: 송파구) is a ''district'' of Seoul, South Korea. Previously known as Wiryeseong, the first capital of the kingdom of Baekje, Songpa is located in the southeastern part of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. With roug ...

, Seoul and Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

, Tokyo. It is controlled by the founder Shin Kyuk-Ho's extended family.

Business

Lotte Group's major businesses are food, retail, chemical, construction, manufacturing, tourism, service, finance, etc. * Food:

Lotte Chilsung Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., Ltd. is one of the largest drink manufacturers in South Korea and is part of the Lotte Corporation. The name ''Chilsung'' (''chilseong'', , ) means "Big Dipper" (literally seven stars), and the company's logo is an e ...

Lotte Liquor Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., Ltd. is one of the largest drink manufacturers in South Korea and is part of the Lotte Corporation. The name ''Chilsung'' (''chilseong'', , ) means "Big Dipper" (literally seven stars), and the company's logo is an ...

, Lotte Nestle, Lotte Asahi Liquor, Lotte GRS, and others. * Retail:

Lotte Department Store Lotte Department Store () is a Korean retail company established in 1979, and headquartered in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Lotte Department Store offers retail consumer goods and services and is one out of 8 business units of Lotte ...

, Lotte Shopping, Lotte Hi-Mart, Lotte Super, Lotte On, Lotter Korea Seven, FRL Korea, and others. * Chemical/Construction/Manufacturing: Lotte Construction, Lotte Chemical, Lotte Fine Chemical, Lotte MCC, Lotte E&C, Lotte Aluminium, Lotte Ineos Chemical, Korea Fujifilm, and others. * Tourism/Service/Finance:

Lotte Global Logistics Lotte Logistics (Korean: 롯데택배, formerly 현대택배) is a logistics and shipping company headquartered in Seoul, Korea, established in 1988. It is a subsidiary of Lotte Corporation. Lotte Logistics is known for its white trucks and also o ...

, Lotte Rental, Lotte Resort, Lotte Duty Free,

Lotte World Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a lu ...

, Lotte Property & Development, Lotte Capital, Lotte Hotels & Resorts,

Lotte Giants The Lotte Giants ( ko, 롯데 자이언츠) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Busan. They are a member of the KBO League. The Lotte Giants are owned by Lotte Corporation, which also owns the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Pr ...

, Daehong Communications, Lotte Hotel Busan, Lotte International, and others

Sports

Lotte also owns professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

teams. *

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

in Japan (1971–present) *

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

, South Korea (1982–present).

Lotte R&D Center

* Korea R&D Center : 201, Magokjungang-ro, Gangseo-gu

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

* Japan R&D Center : Saitama,

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Controversies

In June 2016, companies of the group were raided by South Korean prosecutors, investigating into a possible slush fund as well as breach of trust involving transactions among the group's companies. The investigation forced its Hotel Lotte unit to abandon an initial public offering and Lotte Chemical Corp to withdraw from bidding for ''Axiall Corp.'' Vice chairman, Lee In-won, was found dead in August same year. He was suspected of suicide just hours before being questioned by prosecutors. Lee was considered the top lieutenant of Chairman

Shin Dong-bin Shin Dong-bin (; born February 14, 1956) is a Korean-Japanese businessman. He also has a Japanese name Akio Shigemitsu ( ja, 重光昭夫, translit=Shigemitsu Akio). As of 2012, he was CEO of the South Korean conglomerate Lotte Corporation an ...

References

External links

* (Korean) * (English) {{KRX 100 companies Chaebol Multinational companies Conglomerate companies established in 1967 Companies based in Seoul South Korean brands Companies listed on the Korea Exchange South Korean companies established in 1967 Shin family