Armed with cash from chipmaker SK Hynix, Korean giant Chey Tae-won spends billions on a global shopping spree
Kim Jae-hyunspent $3 billion to buy control of troubled Hynix Semiconductor. Ten years after being bailed out by South Korea’s government, the world’s second-largest chipmaker was losing money and its stock sliding amid a global slump in demand for PCs and memory chips. South Korea’s SK Group, the sprawling conglomerate Chey chairs, had a wireless carrier, an oil and gas company, a hotel operator but no presence in chipmaking.
The Hynix deal was also a turning point for Chey, now 58, emboldening him to make the kind of big bets that characterized SK under his father before his death in 1998. Chey demonstrated that confidence last June when SK Hynix joined a group of investors paying $18 billion to buy 49.9% of Japanese chip maker Toshiba Memory. Hynix also created an imperative for Chey to expand.
SK founder Chey Jong-kun walks with brother Jong-hyon to the opening of Sunkyong Synthetic Fiber's first production line; Suwon, 1969.Chey cut his teeth on smaller deals: in 2000, he engineered the takeover by SK Telecom of a smaller rival, Shinsegi Telecom, for 2.3 trillion won in cash and stock. Buying Shinsegi boosted SK Telecom’s market share overnight to 57% from 43%.
Chey returned in March 2016 as chairman of both SK Holdings and SK Hynix and led a renewed push for vertical integration at the chipmaker, buying suppliers of the wafers and gases that are SK Hynix’s raw materials. The next year, SK Hynix’s earnings more than tripled, and rose another 46% in 2018 to a record 15.5 trillion won. That kind of growth was bound to attract competitors. Now China’s chip companies pose a growing threat.
Chey has been diversifying into new industries, spending $3.2 billion to buy 12 companies in Europe, Southeast Asia and the U.S. in the past six years. In 2017, SK paid $459 million for two chemical lines from U.S.-based Dow Chemical. In March last year, it paid $75 million for a stake in Singapore-based ride-sharing company Grab. And in September, it paid $470 million for a 9.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Thai cave boys on cusp of lucrative deal with Netflix to tell 'harrowing and heroic story'The online media giant said it would be collaborating with SK Global Entertainment, the production outfit behind Crazy Rich Asians.
Read more »
The best way for investors to avoid a $14 trillion hit before the next recession strikesWe are coming up on a major market milestone: This weekend marks the 10-year anniversary since the market hit its lowest levels of the financial crisis. Watch the now-famous 'Haines bottom' moment, and learn how far we've come from the ominous 666 point.
Read more »
Levi Strauss to offer 36.7 million shares in IPO priced at $14 to $16 each
Read more »
China makes major U.S. pork purchase despite steep import tariffs, as hog virus takes tollChina made its biggest purchases of U.S. pork in nearly two years last week, U.S...
Read more »
Indian Billionaire Azim Premji's Donation To His Charitable Foundation Rises To $21 BillionTech tycoon Azim Premji just cemented his position as one of the world’s most large-hearted billionaires with a donation of $21 billion to his education-focused charitable arm, the Azim Premji Foundation
Read more »
Indian tech billionaire gives $7.5 billion to charityIndia's second-richest man is giving billions to charity in what may be the country's biggest single donation ever
Read more »
White House: Trump will decide 'when he's ready' whether to pardon ex-campaign boss Paul ManafortThe comments appear to signal a development in the president's thinking on the issue of pardoning figures in the Russia probe.
Read more »
Sarah Sanders says Trump will decide on any Manafort pardon 'when he's ready'White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump hasn't decided on a potential pardon for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and he'll make that call when he's ready
Read more »