SK Group

SK Group (Korean: SK그룹, 에스케이그룹) is the third-largest conglomerate (chaebol) in South Korea. SK Group is composed of 95 subsidiary companies that share the SK brand name and the group's management culture, named SKMS (SK Management System). It changed its name from Sunkyong Group (Korean: 선경그룹, Hanja : 鮮京그룹) to SK Group in 1997. The cornerstone of SK Group is its energy and chemicals division.
SK Group has more than 70,000 employees, who work from 113 offices worldwide. While its largest businesses are primarily involved in the chemical, petroleum, and energy industries, SK Group also owns South Korea's largest wireless mobile phone service provider, SK Telecom, and provides services in construction, shipping, marketing, local telephone, high-speed Internet, and wireless broadband (WiBro). On March 20, 2010, SK further broadened its range of business to semiconductors by merging Hynix into SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory semiconductor manufacturer.
History.
Formation and early production.
As with many other chaebols, SK Group's chairmanship was 'inherited' from father to son: from its founder the late Chey Jong-hyon to its present chairman Chey Tae-won (eldest son). Chey Tae-won is married to the daughter of the former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo.
SK Group began when the current founders acquired Sunkyong Textiles (established during the Japanese rule as a joint venture with Kyoto-based "Kyoto Textile Company") in 1953. In 1958, the company manufactured Korea's first polyester fiber on company grounds. It established Sunkyong Fibers Ltd. in July 1969, and started to produce original yarn. In 1973, SK then established Sunkyong Oil, beginning a vertical integration strategy to manage production, "From Petroleum to Fibers”. That same year, the company acquired the Walkerhill Hotel.
In 1976, Sunkyong Corporation received an international trading company license from the Indian government. In December 1980 SK purchased privately run Korea National Oil, making it Korea's fifth largest conglomerate.
In January 1988, crude oil was imported for processing to Korea from Yemen’s Marib oil field.
New businesses.
In June 1994, SK entered Korea's telecommunications business by becoming Korea Mobile Telecommunication Service's largest shareholder. In January 1996, SK Telecom launched Korea's first commercial CDMA cellular phone service in Incheon and Bucheon.
In 1998, Management re-branded Sunkyong to SK. In 1999, SK Chemicals developed third-generation (non cross resistant) platinum-complex anti-cancer agent. Also, by focusing its research and development efforts on life sciences, SK Corporation developed YKP1358, a new drug candidate for schizophrenia, in 2003.
In 2002, SK Telecom successfully launched the world's first commercial CDMA 1X EV-DO technology, allowing it to offer 3G telecommunications service. In 2004, SK Telecom enabled satellite DMB service by deploying the world's first DMB satellite. Moreover, in 2006, SK began revitalizing the 3.5-generation mobile phone market and in the following year, completed the construction of the national HSDPA network. In May 2006, SK Telecom started the world's first commercial 3.5-generation HSDPA service, featuring high-quality video telephony and data transmission, and global roaming access.
In 2005, SK Networks opened China's first two wholly foreign-owned, gas stations in Shenyang. Then, after exploring Brazilian mining area BM-C-8, SK Corporation developed an oil field where it confirmed the existence of more than 50 million barrels of oil deposits.
SK Gas began developing resources overseas when it participated in two mining areas to the west of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula in March 2006. In early 2006, SK Networks also developed Ecol-Green, a biodegradable plastic material. Incheon Oil officially started operations using the SK name in March 2006. SK Energy is currently engaged in 27 oil fields in 15 countries worldwide
SKC imported propylene oxide (PO, a chemical used in manufacturing polyurethane) production technology from Germany in May 2006. It is scheduled to produce 100,000 tons of PO from 2008.
At the end of 2005, SK Corp. developed a lithium ion battery separator (LiBS) for the first time in Korea, and started selling the product in 2006. In July 2007, SK Group adopted a holding company structure.
Under the re-organization, SK's main entity, SK Corporation, was split into an investment company, now SK Holdings and an operating company, now SK Energy. The subsidiary companies that now operate under the central SK Holdings umbrella include: SK Energy, SK Telecom, SK Networks, SKC, SK E&S, SK Shipping and K Power.
Recent years.
In February 2017, SK acquired the polyethylene acrylic acid business of Dow Chemical Company for $370 million, and planned to increase battery production capacity from 1.9 to 3.9 GWh per year at the end of 2018, supplying Kia and Mercedes.
On March 31, 2017, SK Innovation said that the electric vehicle battery plant it had in China had been closed since January of that year, after "Chinese joint venture partners halted production for no obvious reason."
On March 21, 2018, SK Innovation announced the acquisition of U.S. shale oil and gas company Longfellow Nemaha.
In February 2021, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) banned some SK lithium-ion batteries from being imported into USA, while allowing some components for US assembly to be delivered to Ford and Volkswagen.
Core businesses.
SK's core businesses are semiconductor, energy and telecommunications. Thirteen of SK companies are listed on the Korea Stock Exchange: SK Holdings, SK Innovation, SK Telecom, SKC, SKC Solmics, SK Chemicals, SK C&C, SK Networks, SK Gas, SK Communications, SK Broadband, SK Hynix and SK Securities. SK Telecom's ADRs are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Subsidiaries.
Some of the member companies that now operate under the SK brand include SK E&C, SK Energy, SK Telecom, SK Broadband, SK Networks, SK Planet, SKC, SK E&S, SK Chemicals, SK Telesys, SK Shipping, SK Telink, SK Hynix, SK Corporation C&C, Walkerhill, Jeju United FC and SK Wyverns.
SKC (Korean: SKC or 에스케이씨, ), headquartered in Seocho-dong Seocho-gu Seoul, is the leading Korean company in chemical and film industry. SKC was founded and established in 1976 as previous name of Sunkyong Chemicals Ltd (Korean: 선경화학 (주)). SKC developed polyester films firstly in Korea, by its own efforts. Nowadays, SKC is one of the best polyester film makers in the world, supplying 10% of worldwide demands with its wide applications including labels, LCDs, and solar cells. With its main plant and R&D center located in Suwon, South Korea, it also operates large capacity of film plant (SKC Inc.) in Georgia, United States. SKC is now developing into one of the leading companies dealing with a variety of eco-friendly, advanced materials for the future energy and chemical industries such as biodegradable films, battery components, LEDs and photovoltaic materials.
SK Innovation and SK Energy (Korean: SK 이노베이션 or 에스케이 이노베이션 and SK 에너지 or 에스케이 에너지 ) is a South Korean enterprise formed as part of the July 1, 2007, reorganization of SK Corporation into a holding company and operating company, SK Holdings and SK Energy, respectively. In 2011, the petroleum business was spun off to become SK Energy. Simultaneously the chemical business was spun off to become SK Innovation. SK Energy was founded in 1962 as Korea's first oil refinery. In 1982, changed company name to Yukong. SK Energy is an energy and petrochemical company with 5,000 employees, KRW 23.65 trillion in sales and 26 offices spanning the globe. The company is Korea's largest (and Asia's fourth largest) refiner with a refining capacity of 1.15 million barrels per day, as of 2006. SK Energy is engaged in exploration and development activities in 26 oil / gas blocks in 14 nations worldwide.
SK Telecom (Korean: SK 텔레콤 or 에스케이 텔레콤, ) is a South Korean company specializing in offering mobile phone services, wired and wireless combined services. It is part of the SK Group and has evolved from a first-generation analog cellular system operator to become the company that launched the world's first commercial CDMA service. SK Telecom moved on to operate Korea's first 2.5-G CDMA 2000 1X system, followed by the world's first commercial 3-G synchronized cellular system. SK Telecom also launched the world's first 3.5-G HSDPA and HSUPA services.
SK Hynix (Korean: SK 하이닉스 or 에스케이 하이닉스, ) is the world's 3rd-largest semiconductor manufacturer and the 2nd-largest in South Korea after Samsung Electronics which is the leader in the global semiconductor industry. SK Hynix was founded in 1983 as "Hyundai Electronics", which is the origin of its name "Hynix", and merged to SK Group in 2012 when SK Telecom became the major shareholder. The major products are DRAM, flash memory, and many other semiconductor materials. While its headquarter is located at Icheon, Gyeonggido, it also runs a large production line at Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do.
SK E&C (Korean: SK 건설 or 에스케이 건설) is a Korean construction company founded and established in 1977 with a previous name of Sunkyong Construction (Korean: 선경 건설), headquartered in Gwanhun-dong Jongno-gu, Seoul. Its brands include SK View, SK Hub, and Apelbaum. The company's CEO is Ki Haeng Cho. Industries: Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Power, Environmental Protection, Industrial, Civil, Building, Housing. Services:Feasibility Study, EPC Service, Project Management, Operations & Maintenance.
SK Corporation Holdings (Korean: SK 주식회사 홀딩스 or 에스케이 주식회사 홀딩스, ) is the holding company which resulted when SK Corporation was reorganized on July 1, 2007, into a holding company and operating company, SK Holdings and SK Energy, respectively. SK Holdings is a part of the SK Group that focuses on 3 core business interests, Energy & Chemicals, Telecommunications, and Trading & Services. The SK Group is composed of 88 affiliate companies that share the SK brand and culture. In 2006, SK Group recorded combined revenues of $75.8 billion, with exports contributing $26.4 billion of that total. SK continues to expand its global presence, with more than 25,000 employees who work from 113 offices worldwide.
SK Telink (Korean: SK 텔링크 or 에스케이 텔링크), a subsidiary of SK Telecom, was established in April 1998 as an international telephony service provider and has grown into a major player in the international calling market. Under the brand name 00700, the company provides international call services. Building on the commercial long-distance telephony and value-added services launched in 2005, the company began offering Korean SMS in June 2006 in the U.S. The service allows subscribers to send and receive Korean text messages in the U.S., as well as to and from Korea. From 2008 on, SK Telink also started e-Learning service (giving Lectures to customers through the internet) and Foreign Language Test service BULATS. BULATS is being used as the main English speaking test for most of the SK Group subsidiaries.
SK Planet (Korean: SK 플래닛 or 에스케이 플래닛) is a marketing and management company in the SK Group. The company mainly derived from the marketing teams of SK Energy and SK Telecom. It was established on April 4, 2008. The company accounts for several services which were previously provided by SK Energy and SK Telecom, such as the OK Cashbag from SK Energy and the Gifticon service from SK Telecom. They also hold a subsidiary "Ofelis", which is a wedding consulting company.
SK Corporation C&C (Korean: SK 주식회사 C&C or 에스케이 주식회사 씨앤씨) was established in 1991 and is currently one of the "Big Three" IT services companies in Korea. SK C&C has business interests across IT services, including telecommunications, banking & finance, government, public, logistics, and other fields. And the company is expanding its presence overseas. Industries in its product portfolio include GIS, ITS, ERP, national security & defense, postal, e-government, e-learning, postal, and other areas. They also specialize in mobile commerce products and SK C&C USA launched Google Wallet services recently.
Jeju United FC (Korean: 제주 유나이티드 FC) is one of the oldest professional football clubs in the K League.
SK Wyverns (Korean: SK 와이번스) is one of the top-ranking baseball teams in the KBO League.
SK Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery and drug development company. It discovered solriamfetol.
Management system.
SK's subsidiary companies all operate under the SK Management System (SKMS) which was developed, articulated and enhanced by SK's Chairman, Chey Tae-won.
On April 7, 2008, SK Group launched a marketing and management company named "SK Marketing & Company" to pursue Chairman Chey's vision.