SoftBank Shares Drop as OpenAI Losses and Rising Costs Spark Investor Concerns 
Obayashi to Acquire Multiplex in $526M Expansion Deal 
Chinese Social Media Giant Xiaohongshu Eyes Hong Kong IPO at Over $70 Billion Valuation 
OpenAI's $34B Spending Pushes AI Market Leadership Ahead of IPO 
ByteDance Eyes Iluvatar, Baidu AI Chips Amid China’s AI Push 
Apple Signals Product Price Hikes Amid Rising Memory Chip Costs 
Kingboard Holdings Shares Surge After HK$11.77 Billion Block Trade to Expand PCB and AI Supply Chain Business 
Woodside Energy Denies Exxon Mobil Takeover Talks Amid LNG Growth Focus 
G7 Explores AI Access Deal With U.S. Amid Anthropic Restrictions 
Jio IPO Filing Nears as Reliance Targets $4 Billion Market Debut 
Microsoft Taps AWS to Support GitHub Amid AI Coding Boom 
SpaceX Surpasses Amazon in Market Value as Post-IPO Rally Accelerates 
Elon Musk Becomes World's First Trillionaire After SpaceX IPO Surge 
SK Hynix Shares Hit Record High After Shipping Next-Generation HBM4E AI Memory Samples 
HSBC Australia Faces A$35M Penalty Over Scam Protection Failures 
SpaceX Stock Soars After Historic IPO, Reaches $2.5 Trillion Market Value 
UK Banks Report Surge in APP Fraud Losses as Pressure Mounts on Meta and Tech Platforms 
SK Group confirmed this week that it would be investing in Vietnam’s largest retailer by acquiring a 16% stake. This is a strategic move as the company taps into the fast-growing e-commerce business.
SK’s stake in VinCommerce
As per The Korea Herald, SK’s Southeast Asian investment division purchased a 16.3% share in VinCommerce, and this is worth KRW460 billion or $410 million. It was mentioned that this Vietnamese retailer giant is a subsidiary of Masan Group Corp. that operates convenience stores and supermarkets around Vietnam, which is at least 2,300 in number.
With this, Masan Group takes 50% of the country’s overall retail market. It was in December 2019 when Masan bought an 83.7% stake in VinCommerce owned by Vingroup, the nation’s biggest private conglomerate.
Moreover, SK Group revealed it would partner with Masan to invest in retail, electronic payment systems, and logistics. This is to develop and widen VinCommerce's online channels, targeting the e-commerce market in Vietnam.
SK invests in Vietnam's VinCommerce
Masan Group successfully obtained market dominance in different business sectors by creating synergy with VinCommerce power in the retail trade. After Masan’s acquisition, VinCommerce’s profits went up and reached $1.4 billion last year, which is a 30% growth compared to 2019’s $1.1 billion. This year, it was said that VinCommerce is expecting to reach $1.8 billion in sales.
"We expect that VinCommerce will grow into an omni-channel business, such as Alibaba or Amazon, that integrates online and offline channels," The Korea Times quoted an SK official as saying after the purchase of shares. "Investment in the company is an investment in the future retail value chain of Southeast Asia, which is expected to see high growth."
Finally, with SK's stake purchase in VinCommerce, the South Korean company further secured more investment rights in Masan's consumer business as well. The two companies are looking to explore more businesses together as they go along with the partnership.
"VinCommerce, based on customer-centered management, strengthened its sales network and improved sales efficiency,” VinCommerce CEO Truong Cong Thang said. “SK's investment will become a starting point for VinCommerce to make another leap in the Vietnamese market.
