Lee Su-jin (businessman)
Lee Su-jin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth year and age Chungju, South Korea |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder and chairman of Yanolja |
Lee Su-jin (; born February 1978) is a South Korean entrepreneur, recognized as the founder and chairman of a leading travel services enterprise. As of December 2024, Forbes valued his fortune at approximately US$1.5 billion, placing him as the 22nd wealthiest individual in South Korea.
Biography
Lee entered the world in February 1978 in Chungju, South Korea. Orphaned early in life, he was brought up by his grandparents. He faced challenges with reading and writing until the latter part of elementary school and completed his education at . Due to financial constraints preventing attendance at a conventional university, he secured a scholarship to Cheonan National Technical College, where he successfully graduated.
Following financial setbacks in the stock market, Lee spent four and a half years starting in 2001 working at a love hotel, initially as a cleaner before progressing into management roles. In 2004, he created "Motel Story" (), a website dedicated to the hospitality sector that attracted over 10,000 users. The subsequent year, he purchased "Motel Tour" (), which was then ranked third among similar platforms with a membership exceeding 200,000. This venture eventually developed into Yanolja, established between 2005 and 2007.
In 2007, Lee secured the domain "yanolja.com" and by 2015 redirected efforts towards mobile application development. Yanolja pursued rapid expansion through strategic mergers and acquisitions, including the takeover of hotel booking service Hotel Now () and Leisure Q () in 2016. In 2021, Yanolja obtained a significant investment of US$1.7 billion from the SoftBank Vision Fund. The company's growth continued with the acquisition of e-commerce company Interpark in 2022. By 2024, Yanolja had become South Korea’s foremost travel and leisure corporation, achieving unprecedented revenue and profit milestones.
Personal life
Lee is married to Park Jeong-hyeon (), and together they have two daughters. As of 2024, he held either the largest or second-largest shareholding position in Yanolja, owning 16.31% of its shares. His spouse and daughters each possessed a 5.18% ownership stake in the business. That same year, he acquired a residence located in Seocho-dong, Seoul.