Brand value of Lotte affiliates hit by corruption probe

SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) — The brand value of Lotte Group’s affiliates have slid in the third quarter as prosecutors have been widening their corruption investigation into the retail giant and its senior officials, a market researcher said Monday.

Lotte, South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, has come under extensive investigation since June on allegations of embezzlement and corruption charges involving its chairman and his aides, another setback to the group mired in the prolonged succession feud between the founder’s two sons since last year.

Lotte World Tower, a 123-story skyscraper in southern Seoul, is seen in this photo provided by Lotte.

Lotte Department Store, the key unit of the Lotte Group, saw its rank tumble from eighth place in the second quarter to 16th place in the third quarter, Brand Stock said.

The brand value of Lotte’s rental car service, fast food chain, supermarket and cinema chain also retreated over the period, the Seoul-based researcher said.

Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s largest duty-free operator that ranked 94th place in the second quarter, failed to join the top 100 brand in the third quarter, it noted.

“It is unprecedented that the brand value of Lotte Department Store, South Korea’s representative retail brand, plummeted in this short period of time,” Brand Stock said. “The key Lotte subsidiary seems to have been most affected by the ongoing prosecution’s probe into the group.”

The market researcher regularly conducts consumer surveys on the nation’s 1,000 brands in 230 sectors to select the top 100 brands.

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