Why Buldak ramen is an US$8 billion brand
For now, investors know that despite Trump’s protectionism, young people are interested in exotic tastes and aesthetics, and that’s worth billions
Add BT as a preferred source
WHEN it comes to instant noodles, there’s no Korean discount. Only a Korean premium.
Samyang Foods, the manufacturer of Buldak ramen, has gained 93 per cent this year. Trading at 26 times forward earnings, it boasts an US$8.1 billion market cap, as much as bigger rivals Japan’s Nissin Foods Holdings and Korea’s Nongshim combined.
This rally has also made chief executive Kim Jung Soo, who married into a conglomerate family and turned around the instant-noodle company after it declared bankruptcy in the late 1990s, a rare billionaire in her own right in the country’s male-dominated business world.
TRENDING NOW
Singapore at 61: How we can ensure opportunity, security and ownership for the next generation
With tech for fact-checking to cancer care, Singapore startups aim beyond home
Vietnam seeks US$76 billion a year from capital markets to ease reliance on banks
How BYD disrupted Singapore’s car market – and why the strategy is turning on itself
