CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik unveiled in his New Year’s message the 2014 top priority tasks designed to overcome a crisis and stabilize management.

In the statement released on Dec. 31, Chairman Sohn said, “Management conditions (for the new year) will not likely be smooth sailing.” He urged his executives and staff members to play their parts better in the new year than any year since Chairman Lee Jae-hyun’s absence  put the group in the worst crisis. 

Sohn called for the enhancement of profitability, expansion of global exploration, and creation of a corporate culture corresponding to global standards, and creating shared value in a systematic fashion.

He appealed for ramping up profitability and competitiveness by getting rid of wastes through creativity and innovation and stabilizing management through the efficient management of funds.

“The development of domestic demand is a big task for the national economy, but it is not easy to jumpstart the existing domestic market, so we have to expand our foray into overseas markets and explore future new growth engine areas,” he said. 

As for the spreading of distrust of capitalism and anti-business sentiments, Chairman Sohn said his group will focus on the creation of profits, the principal goal of corporate activities, while strengthening CSV in order to create social values. 

The chairman stressed the need for securing and cultivating excellent manpower, saying that people’s capacity is the key to tiding over the difficulties and realizing future development.

The group racked up 28.5 trillion won in sales last year, up 6 percent over 2012, and 1.1 trillion won in operating profit.  

CJ E&M Declares 2014 Its First Year as a Global Corporation

CJ Entertainment & Media (CJ E&M) has achieved considerable success in the global market. The comprehensive global media group recorded tangible results in overseas markets throughout 2013, giving it the momentum to push forward through the expansion of its overseas market presence with 2014 set as the starting point for its transformation into a global corporation. CJ E&M is targeting an increase in its overseas sales numbers to as much as 15 percent of total revenue. For this, it has laid out an ambitious plan for co-production, planning, and investment across a variety of content areas including movies, media, and performance, aiming to produce a second ‘Snow Piercer’ or ‘Super Star China.’ What’s more, it will continue to seek to export successful formats.

CJ E&M has worked to successfully promote Korean cultural contents worldwide by continuing to bolster its presence in overseas markets. 2013 was a bumper year for the company, marking its ascension as a truly global corporation through the huge success it achieved internationally with a range of movies, media, and various other content. The international release of ‘Snow Piercer,’ which attracted 9.34 million people in Korea when it premiered in August 2013, was not just about a Korean director or actor rising to prominence overseas. The movie was a global project targeted at a global audience with core engines such as screenplay, direction, production, and investment/distribution, all originating in Korea. Such was the excitement for this movie that the trailer alone was enough to sell the rights to the movie to 167 countries ahead of its release. ‘Snow Piercer’ set a new Korean movie industry record for the number of countries involved in its release and the amount of exports generated. The movie trounced the previous audience record of Painted Fire by 100%, attracting 650,000 viewers during October in France alone, the country from which the original story came. ‘Snow Piercer’ was also released in Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Thailand and will open to audiences in Japan and North America this year.