[THE INVESTOR] Celltrion CEO Seo Jung-jin’s private investments, especially in the entertainment business, are garnering a lot of public attention.

The self-made billionaire has reaped huge profits from his investment in the latest blockbuster movie “Operation Chromite” that sold more than 5.24 million tickets as of Aug. 7.

The other investors in the movie that cost 16 billion won ($14.46 million) include KBS and CJ E&M. Each invested around 3 billion won in the Korean War movie.




Seo has been investing in the entertainment industry -- movies, dramas and other TV programs --through Dream E&M, a wholly owned subsidiary of Celltrion Holdings, in which he has a 93.9 percent stake.

The CEO has been negotiating over a large theme park in Incheon until recently but the talks have been stalled due to disagreement on the land price.

His interests in entertainment sector is based on his belief that cosmetics business, Celltrion’s new venture under Celltrion Skincure, can benefit from it, according to company and industry sources, such as product placement in TV dramas featuring major hallyu stars.

Seo’s estimated worth is US$2.3 billion according to Forbes’ 2016 list of top 50 richest South Koreans.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)