The election for Chairman of the ROCCOC will take place next year. However, recent media reports about Vice Chairman Paul Hsu standing in the election have also mentioned Gary Wang, Chairman of Eastern Group, and former chairman of the ROCCOC. Responding to this, Mr. Wang stated: “I’d like to devote all my effort to the advancement of my career for now. I have no interest in running for ROCCOC Chairman."
The full statement issued by Mr. Wang: For now I’d like to devote all my effort to the advancement of my career. My goals are to expand the enterprise to a global scale, elevate the enterprise’s competitiveness, create employment opportunities, and maximize shareholder value. In regard to the ROCCOC Chairman election, and even the election for the Taipei Chamber of Commerce at the end of the year, I have no interest at all in running. However, I will follow in the footsteps of the business community and our predecessors, and work with the business community to bridge communication gap between the business community, society at large, and the government. I will serve selflessly; I have no interest in being Chamber of Commerce Chairman.
Mr. Wang pointed out that Eastern Group’s development revolves around new retail and new media. Fierce global competition means that competing with multinational corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Line in the cloud is a “world cup"-class competition. Therefore, Mr. Wang races against time every day as he devotes all his effort to the advancement of his business. Eastern Group currently has almost 5,000 employees. Including those who work for Eastern Natural Beauty franchisees, partners of Eastern Tenmax, and ETwarm franchisees, the enterprise has more than 15,000 staff. This means that tens of thousands of employees and their family members need to be taken care of. As an enterprise leader, Mr. Wang works cautiously every day as he constantly thinks about how to expand the enterprise, and what can be done to elevate the enterprise’s global competitiveness. He aims to expand employment opportunities, maximize shareholder value, and enhance Taiwan’s economic development. In 2018, Eastern Group gave out NT$2.8 billion on salaries and bonuses, making a significant contribution to society. The enterprise also contributes to social welfare from time to time. Breakfasts Made of Love are given to more than 25,000 children in rural & tribal villages in Taiwan to ensure that they don’t go to school hungry. A fund-raising platform has also been established through ETMall to raise funds that help students in rural towns acquire learning resources, including computers, athletic shoes, pan flutes, and in-line skates.
Mr. Wang emphasized that in 2018 the enterprise acquired Strawberrynet, an international vertically-integrated cosmetics e-business; formed an alliance with Natural Beauty, a brand with 47 years of history; established QT Entertainment through the collaboration with Wang Wei-chung, the godfather of variety entertainment; invested in iM video; acquired “Animal Kingdom" out of love and established the ETtoday Pets brick-and-mortar store; and invested in FocusMedia Taiwan. This year, the enterprise intends to bring the focus back to ETwarm, and bring Eastern Group to glory through a comprehensive online/offline strategy that integrates big data. Eastern Group generated NT$21.7 billion in revenue in 2018, making a profit of NT$2.395 billion. This year, the goal is to reach NT$31.4 billion, a 46% growth; and the goal for 2023 is to reach NT$87.8 billion!