Lee Sun-ho emerges as CJ’s next strategist

The future of Korea’s largest food and entertainment conglomerate, CJ Group, is increasingly tied to Lee Sun-ho, a 35-year-old scion who returned to the group’s holding firm CJ Corp. in September last year and has since taken on a larger strategic role as head of its future planning group.

Lee, the only son of CJ Group Chair Lee Jay-hyun, rejoined CJ’s top decision-making circle as the conglomerate underwent a broad organizational reshuffle aimed at strengthening strategic control. The group recently launched five internal units — portfolio strategy, future planning, strategy support, legal compliance support and human resources — marking one of its most significant governance overhauls in recent years.

As chief of the future planning group, which is responsible for shaping CJ’s mid- to long-term vision, Lee now faces the task of identifying the group’s next growth engines at a time when its core businesses are maturing and competition is intensifying.

Lee comes from one of Korea’s most prominent business families. He is the grandson of the late CJ Honorary Chairman Lee Maeng-hee, the eldest son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, and the nephew of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. CJ Group Vice Chair Miky Lee is his aunt and Chair Lee Jay-hyun’s sister. While CJ separated from Samsung decades ago, the group’s roots in Korea’s founding chaebol lineage continue to shape perceptions of its leadership succession.

Industry watchers say Lee’s 12 years of on-the-ground experience within CJ’s core businesses have prepared him for the role he is now assuming.

A graduate of Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in financial economics, Lee joined CJ CheilJedang in 2013 as a new employee. During his early years, he worked across the frozen food and business management teams, before briefly moving to CJ Corp.’s strategy unit.

After returning to CJ CheilJedang in 2018, Lee took on increasingly senior roles across the bio business, food strategy and global business planning divisions, where he spent nearly eight years overseeing overseas expansion and long-term growth initiatives.

“He worked like any other employee,” said an industry source familiar with his tenure at CJ CheilJedang. “He was humble, approachable and hands-on — far from the stereotypical image of a chaebol heir.”

Lee is widely credited with accelerating CJ CheilJedang’s overseas expansion. In 2018, overseas food sales totaled 674.8 billion won ($466.2 million), accounting for about 13 percent of the company’s revenue. By 2024, that figure had surged to 5.58 trillion won, nearly half of total sales, following aggressive expansion — most notably the $1.84 billion acquisition of US frozen food giant Schwan’s in early 2019.

He also played a central role in elevating CJ’s flagship brand Bibigo on the global stage, including securing a high-profile jersey patch sponsorship with the Los Angeles Lakers in September 2021 — a deal that significantly boosted brand recognition in the US and beyond.

“For the first time, Lee attended CES this year, which shows he is actively exploring what CJ can do next,” a CJ official said.

Last year, Chair Lee Jay-hyun embarked on a series of overseas trips to the US, the UK and the UAE to reinforce CJ’s global push, frequently engaging with employees along the way. Lee Sun-ho accompanied him on those trips, signaling closer alignment between the current chairman and the next-generation leadership.

Despite CJ’s growing global footprint, the group now faces the challenge of sustaining momentum. While revenues continue to rise, growth has slowed. CJ posted 43.6 trillion won in revenue in 2024, up from 41.4 trillion won in 2023 and 40.9 trillion won in 2022.

“Korea’s domestic food market has effectively reached saturation due to demographic aging,” said a food industry official. “As CJ still relies heavily on CJ CheilJedang, expanding overseas food operations is no longer optional — it’s essential.”

Attention is increasingly focused on CJ Olive Young, the group’s beauty retail arm, which analysts see as a potential future growth pillar. Olive Young is set to open its first offline store in the US in May, with Lee expected to play a key role in steering its North American expansion.

The push is being reinforced by a recently announced partnership with Sephora, under which the former rivals will roll out K-beauty zones across Sephora’s global online and physical stores from the second half of this year.

CJ Olive Young, which has yet to go public, posted 1.56 trillion won in revenue in the third quarter of last year, up 26 percent from a year earlier. Foreign visitors’ accumulated spending at its retail stores in Korea exceeded 1 trillion won between January and November last year, accounting for more than a quarter of total offline sales.

Olive Young’s trajectory could also influence CJ’s longer-term succession structure. Chair Lee Jay-hyun holds a 42.07 percent stake in CJ Corp., while Lee Sun-ho owns 3.2 percent. By contrast, the junior Lee holds an 11.04 percent stake in CJ Olive Young, fueling market speculation about possible structural changes involving the unit. CJ has denied the possibility of a merger between CJ Corp. and Olive Young.

As Lee Sun-ho steps into a more visible leadership role, his performance in identifying new growth drivers — and translating CJ’s global ambitions into sustained results — will be closely watched. How he navigates that challenge may ultimately determine not only CJ’s next chapter, but the contours of its generational transition.