Tech entrepreneurs are emerging as the’new mainstream of the economy’. Representatives include Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Officer (GIO), Kim Bum-soo, Chairman of Kakao, Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCsoft, Kim Jeong-joo, CEO of NXC, and Kim Bong-jin, Chairman of Elegant Brothers. Until a few years ago, they were only representatives of rapidly growing information technology (IT) companies, but it is evaluated that they have recently established themselves as entrepreneurs influencing Korean society.
On the 18th, the news that Chairman Kim Bong-jin is giving back more than half of his fortune, more than 50 billion won, became a hot topic in the business world. Chairman Kim revealed that he has been listed on the’The Giving Pledge’, where he can sign up on the condition of donating more than half of his assets to society. The news that the representative of a small company with an asset of 535 billion won (as of the end of 2019) decided to donate is because the status of a tech entrepreneur has changed from the past.
IT companies have grown remarkably over the past few years in the digital era, and the non-face-to-face culture brought about by the Corona 19 pandemic (a global pandemic) has made these companies inseparable from our lives. Naver (4th in market capitalization), Kakao (9th), NCsoft (18th), and Netmarble (31st) boast their presence in the stock market comparable to those of large manufacturing companies.
It’s not just the bulk. Chairman Kim Bum-soo and CEO Kim Taek-jin decided to newly join the Seoul Chamber of Commerce’s presidency to be formed on the 23rd. The Seoul Award’s presidency is one of the most influential groups in the economy. All five key management groups, including Samsung, Hyundai Motors, SK LG Lotte, are participating. In recent years, Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin visited GIO Lee Hae-jin, and the position of tech entrepreneurs is strengthening in the economic world.
It is predicted that’new mainstream entrepreneurs’ that differ from existing entrepreneurs from DNA will lead the change in the economic world. Relatively young tech entrepreneurs actively communicate with the public and are less interested in succession of management rights.
“The success of these tech entrepreneurs was possible because the first generation of industrialization was based on the high growth of Korean society and world-class IT infrastructure,” he said. “It seems that he was also thinking about turning his success into social contribution.” . An official in the IT industry said, “Unlike the heads of large corporations based in the manufacturing industry, tech entrepreneurs are free from many realistic constraints, so they can make more drastic choices.”
The favorite of the Internet and digital era… Breaking’Management Stealth’
Growing through industrialization… Less interest in succession of management
Tech entrepreneurs, who have emerged as’new mainstreams’ in the economic world, have a common point that they have achieved great success in line with the changes in the era of digital transformation by starting up based on the benefits of industrialization in Korea. It is also the result of the passionate entrepreneurship and reckless sense of challenge, but it is also undeniable that the company has grown while enjoying the fruit of high-speed growth in Korean society. An official in the information technology (IT) industry said, “The debt consciousness that successful tech entrepreneurs have in society is significant.” “The recent increase in donations and participation in society is also the result of such concerns.”
IT venture started on high-speed internet network
Kim Beom-soo, Chairman of the Kakao Board of Directors, and Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCsoft, who joined the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry this year are called the first generation of domestic internet venture startups. Most of the first-generation founders were from engineering colleges in the mid-1980s. Chairman Kim graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering (86 degree) at Seoul National University. Representative Kim is a graduate of the Department of Computer Engineering (85th grade) at Seoul National University. The same first-generation founder Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Officer (GIO), also majored in Computer Engineering (86 degree) at Seoul National University. Nexon founder Kim Jung-joo, CEO of NXC (Nexon’s holding company), also graduated from Seoul National University’s Computer Science and Engineering (86 degree).
CEO Kim Jung-joo and Lee GIO were roommates in the dormitory when they were masters at KAIST. This GIO started working in the same place with Chairman Beom-soo Kim and the motive for joining Samsung SDS. Byung-gyu Jang, chairman of the Krafton Board of Directors, who will serve as the vice-chairman of Seoul, is classified into 1.5 generations. He also majored in Computer Science (Grade 91) at KAIST.
At the time of their founding, they all built Korea’s leading IT companies based on the high-speed Internet network established during the Kim Dae-jung administration. Bong-jin Kim, the founder of the nation’s No. 1 delivery app,’Bedal People’, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elegant Brothers, benefited from the wireless high-speed Internet network. The business conditions were better than the first-generation founders of Korea’s industrialization, including Hyundai Joo-young Jeong, Samsung Lee Byeong-cheol, and LG Koo In-hoe, chairman of the global company in the’ground’. That is why IT founders are more interested in donations and social contribution than previous entrepreneurs. Chairman Kim Bong-jin was the first Korean to be listed on the world-class donation club’The Giving Pledge’ and said, “The donation pledge is to openly confess that the wealth I have accumulated is due to the help of numerous people beyond just individual abilities and efforts. ” CEO Kim Jeong-joo also promised to donate 100 billion won in 2018, explaining that “Nexon has grown together in the consideration of our society.”
Social check burden as a platform operator
Another characteristic of these is that they are less burdened or interested in succession of management rights. Most Internet entrepreneurs who have grown their companies as self-made believe that professional managers can further grow and sustain their companies. Chairman Kim Bum-soo said in the’Biography Magazine Kim Beom-soo’ released in 2017, “Even if you look around me, no one is willing to pass on a venture company to their children. The words 2 and 3 will not be valid in the venture industry.” Explained. CEO Kim Jung-joo also stressed, “I will not pass the company’s management rights to my children,” and “This was a thought that has never been shaken since the company was founded.”
Some point out that this form of domestic IT founders follows the success method of Silicon Valley in the United States. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said they would donate most of their wealth. There is an analysis that it has stimulated domestic venture businessmen as well. Chairman Kim Bong-jin said, “When I was running a small company that had fewer than 20 people in the beginning of the start-up 10 years ago, I vaguely dreamed of the idea that if I succeeded, I would like to declare’The Giving Pledge’ while looking at Bill Gates’ article.”
Some say that the industry should also pay attention to the characteristic of being an IT platform operator. Naver, Kakao, and People of Delivery are monopolistic companies such as Internet search, online shopping, mobile messenger, and food delivery. As all three companies have grown rapidly, the government and politicians have increased their checks against consumers and small businesses, platform workers, and public opinion. Recently, the government and politicians are also promoting the legislation of the’Online Platform Fairness Act’, which contains the content that only regulates these companies separately. An IT industry official analyzed that “overseas, Google and Facebook are improving their corporate image through social contribution activities to escape the monopoly controversy.”
Byungwook Do/Juwan Kim/Minki Gu [email protected]