Naver shareholders confirm new CEO

Shareholders of Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea's dominant Internet portal, on Friday confirmed Han Seong-sook as the company's new CEO.

The 50-year-old Han, formerly the vice president of Naver, replaced Kim Sang-hun, whose term expires this month.

Han, a former journalist who specialized in information technology in the 1990s, joined Naver in 2007.

The new CEO is estimated to be highly responsive to the changing needs of the Internet industry, Naver officials said.

During the general meeting for shareholders earlier in the day, one of Naver's co-founders, Lee Hae-jin, stepped down as chairman of the company's board.

Byun Dae-kyu, chairman of set-top box maker Humax Holdings Co., was appointed as chairman of Naver's board.

The board of Naver is said to have hired Byun, a 57-year-old engineer-turned-businessman, given his background in technology.

Although Lee remains one of the seven board members and is in charge of focusing on developing new businesses, the departure of Lee from the chairman's role marked the biggest overhaul in Naver's governance structure since it was founded in 1997.

The leadership change in Naver is in contrast to the country's family-run business conglomerates, which are run by family dynasties.

Lee Jae-woong, founder of the nation's second-largest Internet portal Daum, recently hailed Naver's leadership change, saying in his Facebook post that it is a "new model of the Korean economy."

Naver posted a record operating profit of 1.1 trillion won ($972 million) on sales of 4.02 trillion won last year.

Meanwhile, YG Entertainment Inc. said Friday that Naver plans to invest 100 billion won into the K-pop entertainment firm and its affiliates.

Naver will buy 50 billion won worth of YG's new shares, making it the second-largest shareholder of the entertainment firm. Naver will also invest another 50 billion won into two affiliates of YG.

YG is home to K-pop stars such as Psy, Big Bang and 2NE1.

An official at Naver said the "strategic investment" is aimed at helping the Internet company expand into global markets by securing a variety of contents. (Yonhap)