LG Corporation

LG Corporation (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: "Leokki Geumseong"; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is the fourth-largest chaebol in South Korea. Its headquarters are in the LG Twin Towers building in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul. LG makes electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries such as LG Electronics, Zenith, LG Display, LG Uplus, LG Innotek, LG Chem, and LG Energy Solution in over 80 countries.
History.
LG Corporation was established as Lak Hui Chemical Industrial Corp. in 1947 by Koo In-hwoi. In 1952, Lak Hui (락희) (pronounced "Lucky"; now LG Chem) became the first South Korean company to enter the plastics industry. As the company expanded its plastics business, it established GoldStar Co. Ltd. (now LG Electronics Inc.) in 1958. Both companies Lucky and GoldStar merged and formed Lucky-Goldstar in 1983.
GoldStar produced South Korea's first radio. Many consumer electronics were sold under the brand name GoldStar, while some other household products (not available outside South Korea) were sold under the brand name of Lucky. The Lucky brand was famous for hygiene products such as soaps and HiTi laundry detergents, but the brand was mostly associated with its Lucky and Perioe toothpaste. LG continues to manufacture some of these products for the South Korean market, such as laundry detergent.
Koo In-hwoi led the corporation until his retirement in 1970, at which time, his son Koo Cha-kyung took over. He then passed the leadership to his son, Koo Bon-moo, in 1995. Koo Bon-moo renamed the company to LG in 1995. The company also associates the letters LG with the company's tagline "Life's Good". Since 2009, LG has owned the domain name LG.com.
Koo Bon-moo died of a brain tumor on 20 May 2018. In July 2018, it was announced that Koo Kwang-mo, the nephew and adopted son of Koo Bon-moo, will be the new CEO of LG. Koo Bon-moo adopted his nephew in 2004, after losing his only son in 1994, citing "a family tradition of male-only succession".
Joint ventures.
LG and Hitachi created joint ventures named Hitachi-LG Data Storage in 2000 and LG Hitachi Water Solutions in 2011; among other partnerships it has had, LG has a long relationship with Hitachi dating back to the early years of Goldstar. Since then Hitachi has transferred technologies for LG's products such as radios, wires, TVs, home appliances, semiconductors, etc. The first JV between the two is LG Hitachi, which has been around since 1980s when it was established to import computers to Korea.
LG had two joint ventures with Royal Philips Electronics: LG Philips Display and LG Philips LCD, but Philips sold off its shares in late 2008.
In 2005, LG entered into a joint venture with Nortel Networks, creating LG-Nortel Co. Ltd.
in 2020, LG and Canadian auto supplier Magna International launched a joint venture known as LG Magna e-Powertrain. The new joint venture will manufacture components used in electric cars such as electric motors.
International markets.
On 30 November 2012, comScore released a report of the October 2012 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share that found LG lost its place as second in the U.S. mobile market share to Apple Inc.
On 20 January 2013, Counterpoint Research announced that LG has overtaken Apple to become second largest in U.S. market share.
On 7 August 2013, comScore released a report of the June 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share that found LG fell to fifth place in the U.S mobile market share.
Structure and financial position.
LG Corporation is a holding company that operates worldwide through more than 30 companies in the electronics, chemical, and telecom fields. Its electronics subsidiaries manufacture and sell products ranging from electronic and digital home appliances to televisions and mobile telephones, from Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays to security devices and semiconductors. In the chemical industry, subsidiaries manufacture and sell products including cosmetics, industrial textiles, rechargeable batteries and toner products, polycarbonates, medicines, and surface decorative materials. Its telecom products include long-distance and international phone services, mobile and broadband telecommunications services, as well as consulting and telemarketing services. LG also operates the Coca-Cola Korea Bottling Company, manages real estate, offers management consulting, and operates professional sports clubs.
Sports sponsorship.
LG owns the LG Twins and is the main sponsor of Changwon LG Sakers and a partner of the Texas Rangers.