Lotte Co., Ltd. ( ) is a multinational conglomerate with headquarters in South Korea and Japan. Lotte was first established in June 1948 in Tokyo, by Shin Kyuk-ho (신격호) (also known as Takeo Shigemitsu). With the money he earned in Japan, Shin expanded to his home country, South Korea with the establishment of Lotte Confectionery in Seoul on April 3, 1967. Lotte eventually grew to become South Korea's eighth largest business conglomerate. 9 June 2004 - Source: Wikipedia