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 especially ...

of the South Korean conglomerate Lotte Corporation 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 inaugural ...

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 Manhatt ...

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. ...

' 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 Lotte Hi-Mart () is a South Korean retailer of electronic goods. It was originally a unit of bankrupt Daewoo Electronics that founder Seon Jong-koo spun off in 1999. Hi-Mart is headquartered in Seoul. Hi-mart was taken over by Lotte Corporation o ...

Hyundai Logistics Lotte Logistics (Korean: 롯데택배, formerly 현대택배) is a logistics and shipping company headquartered in Seoul, Korea, established in 1988. It is a subsidiary of Lotte Corporation. Lotte Logistics is known for its white trucks and also ...

The New York Palace Hotel Lotte New York Palace Hotel is a luxury hotel in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, at the corner of 50th Street and Madison Avenue. It was originally developed between 1977 and 1980 by Harry Helmsley. The hotel consists o ...

, 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

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...

7 billion (US$6.5 million) to

Choi Soon-sil Choi Soon-sil (; born June 23, 1956) is an individual known primarily for her involvement in the 2016 South Korean political scandal, which stemmed from her influence over the 11th President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. Biography Choi Soon- ...

, a

confidant The confidant ( or ; feminine: confidante, same pronunciation) is a character in a story whom a protagonist confides in and trusts. Confidants may be other principal characters, characters who command trust by virtue of their position such as ...

e 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 ...

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 fi ...

, 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, who ...

. 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 bus ...

. 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.

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 worl ...

, 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