How a former sugar manufacturer became the architect of the global Korean Wave
In short: Originally the first manufacturing arm of the Samsung empire, CJ Group evolved from a simple flour and sugar producer into a cultural juggernaut. Today, it shapes global tastes in food, beauty, and entertainment, acting as the primary engine behind the international explosion of Korean pop culture and lifestyle brands.
Founded in 1953 as CheilJedang, the company spent its early decades mastering industrial food production. It pioneered South Korea's first flour mill in 1958 and later dominated the seasoning market with mass-produced products like Dashida. By the 1980s, the firm had diversified into biotechnology, successfully developing anticancer medicines and hepatitis vaccines. This period of technical refinement laid the groundwork for its eventual pivot toward the consumer-facing lifestyle sectors that define its modern identity.
The 1990s marked a radical transformation. In 1993, the company spun off from Samsung to pursue independent management, officially severing ties by 1997. This independence allowed CJ to aggressively enter the entertainment and media industries. Through strategic acquisitions and the launch of the CGV cinema chain, the group began building what it calls a cultureplex—a unified space for dining, shopping, and media consumption. This strategy proved highly effective, as the company moved from selling ingredients to selling cultural experiences.
Today, CJ Group is a central pillar of the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. Its subsidiary CJ ENM produces globally acclaimed content like the Academy Award-winning film Parasite and hosts massive cultural events like KCON, which has seen over 2 million cumulative offline attendees as of 2025. Simultaneously, its food division, CJ CheilJedang, has expanded its reach through massive international acquisitions, such as the 2019 purchase of the American frozen food giant Schwan’s for approximately $1.84 billion. With a presence in 46 countries, the conglomerate continues to curate the global export of Korean food, beauty, and media.
Despite its commercial success, the group's history has been marked by high-profile family friction and legal challenges. The company’s leadership, chaired by Lee Jay-hyun, faced significant scrutiny during a public inheritance feud with the Samsung family and subsequent legal battles involving tax evasion. Nevertheless, the group has maintained its trajectory, accelerating global expansion and restructuring its core divisions to ensure its continued influence on the international stage.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: CJ Group
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