South Korean beauty is having its moment, and one millennial is raking in big bucks from it.
Kim Byung-Hoon, the 36-year-old chief executive of Seoul-based cosmetics company APR Corp., became the country’s newest billionaire. With a 31% stake in the company, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Monday listed Kim’s net worth as $1.3 billion.
APR Corp. has numerous South Korean brands under its umbrella, including beauty brands Aprilskin and Forment, and supplements brand Glam.D Bio.
Kim is a young leader with a strong social media presence. The CEO has more than 24,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts content regularly.
The star of APR Corp.’s brand portfolio is Medicube, a beauty tech company whose skincare devices have been touted by celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber.
In an April TikTok video, Jenner said she stopped by Medicube’s pop-up in Los Angeles and picked up the brand’s Booster Pro.
Medicube’s website says the Booster Pro, a slender $240 cylindrical device, enhances “absorption, radiance, elasticity,” helps with pores, and gives skin the “glass glow” that Korean beauty is synonymous with.
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Jenner was seen using it in her skincare routine as she applied products to her face.
According to its website, APR Corp, then Aprilskin Corporation, was founded in 2014. It launched Medicube in 2016, which expanded globally in the following years. Medicube launched the Booster Pro in October 2023.
Kim’s company went public in February 2024 and now has a market capitalization of about $4.2 billion. Its stock was trading at 158,300 Korean won on Tuesday, or about $116, up more than 75% since its IPO.
Kim’s entry into the billionaires club comes as Korean beauty is gaining popularity, with brands like Beauty of Joseon, Laneige, and Dr. Jart+ going viral on TikTok.
K Beauty’s promise of delivering glass skin goes hand in hand with the “glazed skin” trend that Hailey Bieber, founder of skincare brand Rhode, coined. Bieber, too, made a video in July 2023 using Medicube’s Booster-H, an older version of the Booster Pro.
Representatives for APR Corp. and Jenner did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
