Lotte's 93-year-old founder fired his younger son, the shareholders kept the son, and a court put the father under guardianship

Shin Kyuk-ho founded Lotte in Japan and built it into a conglomerate controlled through Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings. His elder son, Shin Dong-joo, ran the Japanese side; his younger son, Shin Dong-bin, ran Korea. In early 2015 Dong-joo was stripped of his posts at Lotte Holdings. In July 2015 the founder reportedly wrote a letter firing Dong-bin from all positions and naming Dong-joo to lead both countries. Dong-bin said his father lacked capacity. At an August 2015 shareholder meeting in Tokyo, the employee shareholders' association, holding about 27.8 percent, voted with Dong-bin and rejected Dong-joo's plan to oust him. In December 2015 the founder's younger sister petitioned for guardianship over him, and a court appointed a nonprofit legal guardian. Dong-bin won further votes in March 2016 and June 2018. In 2018 Dong-bin was convicted of bribery in the Park Geun-hye scandal and later freed on a suspended sentence^†. The founder died in 2020. Dong-bin controls Lotte in 2026^†.