Summary

Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, was born on Dec. 3, 1960, as the eldest son among two sons and one daughter of the former Chairman Chey Jong-hyon. Last year in September, he marked the 25th anniversary of his inauguration as the chairman of SK Group. In February 2021, he became the first among the leaders of the top four conglomerates to concurrently hold the position of chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Following the death of Chey Jong-hyon in 1998, Chey Tae-won was appointed as the chairman of SK Group at the young age of 38. Despite controversies stemming from accounting fraud, embezzlement, and a divorce lawsuit, he is credited with expanding the company’s business domain through successful mergers and acquisitions (M&A), such as SK Hynix, and elevating the group to the second rank in the business world.

Chey Tae-won graduated from Shinil High School and the Department of Physics at Korea University, then completed a combined master’s and doctoral program in economics at the University of Chicago in the United States. He joined SK as a manager in the trading division, was promoted to executive director, and later became vice president of SK Corporation. After the sudden death of Chairman Chey Jong-hyon, he was appointed as the chairman. Although there were concerns about a succession dispute, Chey Yoon-won, the eldest son of Chairman Chey Jong-gun and president of SK Chemicals, recommended Chey Tae-won as his successor, leading to unanimous agreement on the succession. Chey Yoon-won passed away from lung cancer less than two years later.

Chey Tae-won played a decisive role in expanding the business areas from oil refining and telecommunications to semiconductors and biotechnology through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In 2011, the acquisition of SK Hynix led the company to grow into the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea. Despite internal opposition due to the costs and risks of new businesses during the SK Hynix acquisition, it was known that Chairman Chey strongly pushed for the deal. He also acquired OCI Materials (now SK Materials) for about 480 billion won in 2015 and LG Siltron (now SK Siltron) for 1 trillion won in 2017. In 2018, he purchased a stake in Toshiba Memory for 4 trillion won.

The biotechnology business, which began to be fostered since the time of the previous chairman, began to shine under the continuous investment of Chairman Chey Tae-won. In 2011, he launched SK Biopharm to focus on new drug development and in 2015, he established SK Biotech by physically splitting off the active pharmaceutical ingredient production division of SK Biopharm, expanding into pharmaceutical production. The biotech business started to bear fruit with the approval of cenobamate, a partial-onset seizure treatment for adults, and solriamfetol, a sleep disorder treatment, in 2019.

He has a strong interest in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management and corporate social activities and is active in external activities. In February 2021, he became the first among the leaders of the top four conglomerates to be appointed chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representing the business community. Since his inauguration as the chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he has directly participated in broadcasts like Idea League as part of national development projects he planned. He also took on the role of chairman of the Private Promotion Committee for the 2030 Busan Expo as the chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

There have been times when he was imprisoned for accounting fraud and embezzlement. In 2003, Chairman Chey Tae-won was sentenced to three years in prison and arrested for inflating profits by 1.5587 trillion won through accounting fraud in reducing SK Global’s debts and for gaining 95.9 billion won in unjust profits in the process of securing group control by exchanging Walkerhill Hotel and SK stocks. He was released on bail after seven months and in 2008, the Supreme Court confirmed a three-year prison sentence suspended for five years, which was pardoned three months later on Liberation Day.

In 2013, he was again sentenced to four years in prison and legally detained for embezzling 45 billion won of SK Group affiliate funds overseas. In 2014, the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison, confirming the sentence. He was released on August 14, 2015, after 926 days in prison, on the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day. In the past two years, Chey Jae-won, the vice chairman of SK Group, was also sentenced to three and a half years in prison for embezzlement and breach of trust, leading to the unprecedented situation where both brothers in the conglomerate’s leadership were serving prison sentences.

Timeline

▲ 1960 = Born in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

▲ 1979 = Graduated from Shinil High School.

▲ 1983 = Graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Korea University.

▲ 1989 = Completed a doctoral program in Economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School.

▲ 1992 = Director of the Management Planning Office at Sunkyong.

▲ 1994-1995 = Director of the Management Planning Office at Sunkyong Ltd.

▲ 1996-1997 = Vice President and Chief of the Comprehensive Planning Office at SK Ltd.

▲ 1998-2015 = Chairman of SK Ltd.

▲ 2015 = Chairman of the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies.

▲ 2016 = Chairman of the Korea Handball Federation.

▲ 2016-Present = Chairman and CEO of SK Inc.

▲ 2018 = Chairman of Chey Institute for Advanced Studies.

▲ 2019 = Chairman of the Center for Social value Enhancement Studies.

▲ 2021 = Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

▲ 2022 = Chairman of SK Telecom.

▲ 2022-2023 = Co-Chairman of the Busan World Expo Bidding Committee.

▲ 2023 = Owner of the Seoul SK Knights basketball team.