spent his early 20s working as a janitor at a love hotel—a short-stay hotel that caters to couples—in South Korea. Now 45, Lee makes his debut on the Korea’s 50 Richest list at No. 26 with a net worth of $1.2 billion.Yanolja
, the South Korean travel superapp he founded in 2005. The idea for Yanolja, which means “Hey, let’s play” in Korean and provides hotel and travel bookings, came when Lee started a website for love hotel reviews. Japanese tech billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund 2 bought a minority stake in the Seoul-based company for $1.7 billion in 2021, valuing it at $6.7 billion.
Still, Yanolja has benefited from the post-pandemic rebound in global travel. In the first nine months of 2022, the latest figures available, Yanolja reported revenue of 444.3 billion won , up 87% from the year-earlier period, while net profit rose 22% to 23.5 billion won. The company also expanded its cloud-based business in recent years. Sales of its software that helps hotels manage reservations and predict customer behavior more than doubled from 2021, making up 16% of total revenue.
Ee
sin tae yong Mafiabola