Ticket Monster, the country’s largest social commerce firm, said Tuesday the company would launch its first overseas business in Malaysia in its first step into the market there.Daniel Shin, CEO and co-founder of Ticket Monster, said it recently acquired Everyday.com, which is a leading social shopping site in Malaysia.Malaysia was chosen because Ticket Monster expects the market there to grow sha

 

Korea’s economy will likely grow 4.3 percent this year, falling short of a 5 percent expansion forecast earlier by the government due to external uncertainties, a poll showed Monday.According to the survey of 32 experts by the Federation of Korean Industries, the economy will likely expand 4.4 percent in the second half of this year, with 38 percent of those surveyed citing global economic uncerta

The number of jobs offered by South Korea’s listed companies soared to a record high last year as companies increased employment on the back of their strong earnings, data showed Monday.A total of 1.09 million people were hired by the 719 companies listed on the Seoul main stock index in 2010, up 10.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data by the Korea Listed Companies Association.

S-Oil Corp., the country’s third largest refiner, announced Monday that it will acquire a third of Hankook Silicon Co.’s stakes as part of its drive to expand into the renewable energy business.S-Oil said that the deal, which will see the refiner gain 33.4 percent of Hankook Silicon for 265 billion won ($245 million), will be finalized next month.The company said the decision to buy into the compa

SK Innovation Co., Korea’s top refiner, broke ground on its second plant Monday to produce batteries for electric vehicles, upping the ante for its fledgling green energy business as a next-generation revenue source.Located in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, the facilities will start manufacturing 200-megawatt-hour batteries early next year and 300-MWh batteries by the end of 2012, SK Innovati

STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Co. announced Monday that it has won a $150 million contract from a Greek shipping company.The Changwon, South Gyeongsang-based shipbuilder said that the contract for four petroleum product carriers was signed with the Greek shipping firm Thenamaris Ships Management Inc. on Friday.The shipbuilder said that the first of the four vessels will be delivered to Thenamaris

The union members of the Standard Chartered First Bank Korea ended Monday their one-day strike in protest of the management’s proposal to adopt a performance-based pay system.The union said it decided to return to work from Tuesday, adding that it would push for a meeting with the management to settle the labor dispute. “But if the negotiation makes little progress, we will go into another strike,

The nation’s educational expenditure fell by the most in six years, mainly due to the declining number of students brought on by the country’s low birthrate, a state-run agency said Monday.The Statistics Korea said households with two persons or more spent 292,357 won ($269) monthly in education costs per child on average in the first quarter, down 14,434 won or 4.7 percent from same time last yea