Lotte Co., Ltd. is a South Korean-Japanese Jaebeol (conglomerate) and one of the largest food and shopping groups in South Korea and Japan. Lotte was established in June 1948, in Tokyo, by Japanese-educated, Korean businessman Shin Kyuk-Ho – also known as Takeo Shigemitsu. After the normalization of Japan–Korea relations in 1965, Lotte expanded into Korea with the establishment of Lotte Confectionary Co., Ltd in Seoul on April 3, 1967.
Lotte Group consists of over 60 business units employing 60,000 people engaged in such diverse industries as candy manufacturing, beverages, hotels, fast food, retail, financial services, heavy chemicals, electronics, IT, construction, publishing, and entertainment. Lotte's major operations are overseen by Shin Kyuk-Ho's family in South Korea and Japan, with additional businesses in China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, USA, Russia, Philippines, Pakistan and Poland (Lotte bought Poland's largest candy company Wedel from Kraft Foods in June 2010). Today, Lotte is the largest candy / chewing gum manufacturer in both South Korea and Japan, and is one of South Korea's largest conglomerates.
Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. – Lotte group's world headquarters – are located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It is controlled by the founder Shin Kyuk-Ho's family.
Lotte of Korea employs 56,369 with a revenue of 41 trillion won in 2008 and has 53 companies in South Korea
Lotte of Japan employs 3,600 with a revenue of 448 billion yen in 2006.
Lotte Group's total assets are approximately 50 billion USD (Lotte Korea $40 Billion, Lotte Japan $10 Billion)