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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of the South Korean conglomerate

Lotte Corporation Lotte Corporation (or Lotte Group) is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation, and the fifth-largest chaebol in South Korea. Lotte began its history on June 28, 1948, by Korean businessman Shin Kyuk-ho in Tokyo. Shin expan ...

and the Japanese

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 inaugu ...

baseball team. He is the second son of Shin Kyuk-ho (Takeo Shigemitsu), founder and first CEO of Lotte and his Japanese wife. He is the younger brother of Hiroyuki Shigemitsu (Korean name Shin Dong-ju), CEO of the Japanese Lotte Group. He graduated from

Aoyama Gakuin University is a private Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1874 by missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church, it was reconfigured in its current form in 1949 as part of Aoyama Gakuin. Aoyama Gakuin University ...

with a B.A. in economics in 1977 and from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

with an MBA. He started his career at

Nomura Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the Nomura Group. It plays a central role in the securities business, the Group's core business. Nomura is a financial services group and global investment bank. B ...

' London branch in 1980 and joined Lotte in 1988, when he started at Lotte Chemical. In 2011, he became Chairman of Lotte Korea. Upon taking control of the group, Shin embarked on a series of M&As, including the acquisition of Hi-Mart, Hyundai Logistics, The New York Palace Hotel, and the chemical arm of

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

- Samsung Fine Chemicals and Samsung BP Chemicals. Shin was engaged in a number of disputes with his sibling, Shin Dong-ju, over the control of Lotte and gained control of the company after a long legal battle. On December 22, 2017, a Seoul district court handed down to Shin a two-year suspension of a jail sentence with embezzlement and breach of trust in October 2016. On February 13, 2018, Shin was sentenced to 30 months in prison after the Seoul Central District Court found him guilty of charges stemming from Lotte's decision to give ₩7 billion (US$6.5 million) to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of former

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the f ...

, in exchange for government favors in providing a license to operate

duty-free stores A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

. On October 5, 2018, a South Korean appeals upheld Shin's conviction, but also agreed to suspend his sentence to time already served, thus setting him free.

Philanthropic activities

Shin sits on the Board of Overseers of

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest busin ...

. In 2013, he donated $4 million to the school to found the Shin Dong-bin fellowships. A professional skier, Shin also serves as the Chairman of the Korean Ski Association and pledged 60 billion won to the

PyeongChang Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Personal life

Shin is married to a Japanese woman named Ogo Manami, who is of aristocratic descent. The couple have three children, who all live in Japan. Both his office and his residence are located in

Lotte World Tower The Lotte World Tower () is a 123-story Megatall skyscraper located in Sincheon-dong, Songpa, Seoul, South Korea. It opened to the public on April 3, 2017, and is currently the tallest building in South Korea and the sixth tallest in the wor ...

, South Korea's tallest building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Dong-bin South Korean chief executives Lotte Corporation Japanese people of South Korean descent Aoyama Gakuin University alumni Columbia Business School alumni People from Tokyo Zainichi Korean people 1956 births Living people Yeongsan Shin clan South Korean fraudsters South Korean people of Japanese descent People convicted of embezzlement Shin family Recipients of South Korean presidential pardons