Just Before the Lee Jae-yong–Ambani Meeting, Samsung Completely Renovated Its VIP Lounge for 100 Million Won

[Financial News] At the end of last month, Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, chairman of India's largest conglomerate Reliance Group, visited the Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho-dong, Seoul, to meet with Lee Jae-yong. Before welcoming Ambani, Lee reportedly undertook a special interior renovation. To match Ambani’s stature, the VIP lounge was newly decorated with ultra-luxury furniture worth around 100 million won, reflecting the extraordinary effort put into the preparations.
On the 3rd, Chosun Ilbo reported, citing the interior design industry, that Cheil Worldwide contacted a renowned interior company on the 22nd of last month, requesting, 'The Ambani family will visit Samsung Electronics’ Seocho office—please set up the VIP lounge furniture in a single day.' This was three days before Ambani’s visit to Korea.
On the day Chairman Ambani visited Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong was joined by Tae-moon Roh, head of the DX division at Samsung Electronics; Choi Joo-sun, president of Samsung SDI; Junehee Lee, president of Samsung SDS; Choi Sung-an, vice chairman of Samsung Heavy Industries; Sechul Oh, president of Samsung C&T Corporation; Hong Namkoong, president of Samsung E&A; and Lee Jae-Eon, head of the trading division at Samsung C&T Corporation.
The VIP lounge was furnished with sofas, cushions, tables, rugs, and lighting from renowned brands such as Zanat Kova and Cassina Sengu, along with Samsung Electronics home appliances. While the full extent of the renovation was not disclosed, the total cost was reportedly over 100 million won.
A Samsung official stated, 'If the renovation was done at the last minute, it is highly likely that a top executive who checked the event preparations pointed out that the furniture was outdated. Especially since the regular executive appointments at Samsung Electronics had just taken place and senior management, including Lee Jae-yong, were all gathering, extra attention was paid to the preparations.'
Reliance Group, India’s largest conglomerate, is currently working on building the world’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) data center in India. For Samsung, Reliance represents a major partner for collaboration in semiconductors, AI, telecommunications, displays, construction, and more.
In particular, Samsung Electronics has maintained a partnership with Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator, supplying 4G network equipment in 2012 and 5G equipment in 2022. Lee Jae-yong has also built a long-standing relationship with Chairman Ambani, even attending the wedding of Ambani’s youngest son last year.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter