Chairman Cho Hyun-bum was sentenced to 3 years in prison on the 29th during the first trial and was taken into custody, leading to significant disruptions expected in the management of Hankook & Company. Hankook & Company aimed to leap to become a global mobility corporation through synergy between Hankook Tire & Technology and Hanon Systems. The situation is compounded by external challenges, including the automobile parts tariff imposed by the Donald Trump administration.
Acquisition of management rights in Hanon Systems, the world's second-largest automotive thermal management system corporation, was a decisive move for Chairman Cho's future growth strategy. Earlier this year, Chairman Cho, who completed the acquisition of Hanon Systems, emphasized normalized management.
Hanon Systems' operating profit fell by 52.6% year-on-year to 134.3 billion won last year due to restructuring, sluggish electric vehicle conditions, and facility investments. In response, Hankook & Company has been working to ensure financial soundness while promoting chemical integration. Since February, it has accelerated organizational fusion by increasing interactions among members.
However, with Chairman Cho's imprisonment, plans to maximize synergy between Hankook Tire and Hanon Systems have lost momentum. Although there are professional managers such as Lee Jong-ho, representative of Hankook & Company; Lee Soo-il, representative of Hanon Systems; and Ahn Jong-sun and Lee Sang-hoon, representatives of Hankook Tire, there are limitations to making significant investment decisions, which require high attention for organizational integration.
There are forecasts that it will also cause delays in responding to U.S. tariffs. Chairman Cho had been strengthening on-site management in line with the expansion of U.S. factories to respond to the automobile parts tariffs of the Trump administration. He was reported to have engaged in sales activities targeting major tire dealers and to have directly inspected production increases and sales resulting from the factory expansion.
The business of finding future growth engines led by Chairman Cho is inevitably going to slow down. The Hankook & Company Group recently launched "Hankook & Company Ventures Co., Ltd.," a corporate-led venture capital firm after 84 years since its founding. This company, which was established with a capital of 15 billion won, planned to form a blind fund of several hundred billion won to invest in high-tech companies.
A source in the industry said, "While professional managers can maintain the status quo, it will not be easy to make important decisions regarding the group's mid- to long-term growth strategy."