Lee Byung-chul

Lee Byung-chul (February 12, 1910 Uiryeong, Gyeongsangnam-do – November 19, 1987 Seoul) was the founder of the Samsung Group and one of South Korea's most successful businessmen. With the breakup of the Hyundai chaebol, Samsung is now South Korea's largest business group

Early life

Byung-chul was the son of a wealthy landowning family (a branch of the Gyeongju Lee clan). He attended college at Waseda University in Tokyo, but did not complete his degree.

Career

Beginning

Byung-chul established a trucking business in Daegu on March 1, 1938, which he named Samsung Trading Co, the forerunner to Samsung. Samsung means "Three Stars" which explains the initial corporate logos.

By 1945 Samsung was transporting goods throughout Korea and to other countries. The company was based in Seoul by 1947. It was one of the ten largest "trading companies" when the Korean War started in 1950. With the conquest of Seoul by the North Korean army, Lee was forced to relocate his business to Pusan. The massive influx of U.S. troops and equipment into Busan over the next year and a half of the war proved to be highly beneficial to Lee's trucking company.