April 25, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Hankook Tire Group Chairman Cho Yang-rae’s two sons will drop their dual titles at Hankook Tire to focus on their roles at its holding company Hankook Tire Worldwide, the tire giant announced on Dec. 6..

Cho Hyun-shick, the eldest son of the group chairman and president and CEO of Hankook Tire Worldwide, will let go of his dual title as the chief marketing officer of Hankook Tire. Meanwhile, the younger son Cho Hyun-bum, president and chief corporate strategy and finance officer of Hankook Tire Worldwide, will end his chief corporate management officer role at Hankook Tire, beginning on Jan. 1. 

Cho Hyun-bum (left) and Cho Hyun-shick

According to the company, the two Cho brothers will now focus on the group’s major decisions such as mergers and acquisitions or entering new businesses, in what looks to be the beginning of the tire maker’s succession process.

Lee Soo-il, vice president and head of Hankook Tire’s China operations, will replace the Cho brothers’ position as the head of marketing and corporate management of Hankook Tire, the company said.

The annual reshuffle arrives as Hankook Tire is enjoying a stellar performance in the slow growing tire market, thanks to the strong sales of the company’s high-end products, especially in China and Europe. The world’s seventh-largest tire maker’s operating margin ratio was 17.1 percent in the first three quarters this year, beating the global top three players Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear.

In the third quarter alone, Hankook Tire posted 1.65 trillion won (US$1.41 billion) in sales and 297.1 billion won in operating profit, with a margin of 17.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the largest tire maker Bridgestone posted 7.21 trillion won in sales and 1.11 trillion won in operating profit, putting the operating margin at 15.4 percent.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)