Early business career

Lance Gokongwei started his career in the family business as a management trainee at Universal Robina Corp.^[8] He sold Jack ’n Jill snacks to supermarkets, groceries, and sari-sari stores.^[9]

Universal Robina

In the late 1990s, Gokongwei became general manager of Universal Robina's branded food business, where he led the development of beverages.^[7] In 2004, the company introduced C2, a ready-to-drink tea that went head-to-head with foreign cola companies that dominated the beverage sector in the Philippines. It was sufficiently successful that another production line was required to meet demand.^[10]

In 2013, Gokongwei became chief executive of Universal Robina.^[7] The following year, he partnered with Japan's Calbee and France's Danone for potato chips and beverages respectively. He also acquired New Zealand-based cookie maker Griffin's Foods for 700 million New Zealand dollars ($609 million at the time), giving Universal Robina a presence in the South Pacific. The partnership with Calbee, however, ended five years later as Calbee suffered losses in the Philippine market.^[11]

In 2021, URC bought Malaysia’s Munchy Food Industries for 1.9 billion ringgit ($454 million) to become the nation's leading biscuits manufacturer. ^[12]

Cebu Pacific Air

In 1996, Lance Gokongwei was tasked by his father, John, Jr., to take on the challenge of building a new affordable airline, Cebu Pacific Air.^[13]

Then tragedy struck, when in February 1998, two years after the company's inception, Cebu Pacific Flight 387 slammed into a mountainside, killing all 104 people aboard. At the time, it was the nation's worst air disaster.^[14]

"Our world seemed to turn upside-down," Gokongwei said, as he faced the greatest challenge of his career.^[15]

In 2010, Cebu Pacific became the Philippines' largest airline.^[15]

In December 2022, Gokongwei announced his resignation as president and CEO of Cebu Pacific.^[16]

In 2023, when COVID-19 fears subsided, Cebu Pacific stated 10 new Airbus jets were set to arrive within the year, increasing its fleet size to 76 aircraft. ^[17]

Earlier in the year, Gokongwei joined five other businessmen in a consortium that proposed to revamp Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport by spending 267 billion pesos. The government rejected the bid in July. ^[18]

JG Summit Holdings

In 2018, Gokongwei was named CEO of JG Summit.^[19] In 2020, the company was hit by quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20] As a result, its income and revenues fell.

In August 2023, JG Summit Holdings reported its core net income reached P9.5 billion in the first half of 2023, a nearly sevenfold increase from the P1.4 billion it earned in the same period a year earlier. ^[21]