Cho Seok-rae, Honorary Chairman of Hyosung, Receives 26.6 Billion KRW Including Retirement Pay... Largest Among Family Members
Lee Jae-yong Continues 'Unpaid' Management
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] In the first half of this year, there was a significant disparity in the compensation of major conglomerate heads and professional CEOs. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong recorded 'no compensation,' while Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin received over 6 billion KRW. Although no longer a head of a conglomerate, Hyosung Honorary Chairman Cho Seok-rae, who stepped down in 2018, received 26.6 billion KRW, setting the highest record among business families.
According to the semi-annual reports disclosed by each company on the 14th, among the top 10 conglomerate heads, the highest compensation was received by Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, who earned 6.28 billion KRW. He was the highest-paid head this year, although this represents about a 15% decrease compared to the first half of last year.
Chairman Shin received compensation from six affiliates this year, but stepped down as CEO of Lotte Construction last year, and his base salary at Hotel Lotte was cut by 50% this year, leading to a significant reduction compared to 7.9 billion KRW in the first half of last year.
Second place was Heo Tae-soo, Chairman of GS Group, who received 6.02 billion KRW. Of Heo’s first-half compensation, 5.16 billion KRW was retirement pay from GS Home Shopping. Heo Tae-soo succeeded former Chairman Heo Chang-soo and became group chairman earlier this year.
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo followed with a total of 5.824 billion KRW, including a first-half bonus of 3.64 billion KRW and salary of 2.184 billion KRW. This is an 81% increase compared to the first half of last year and exceeds last year’s annual salary of 5.396 billion KRW.
Hyundai Motor Group’s de facto head, Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, received 2.183 billion KRW in the first half, similar to last year. His father, Chairman Chung Mong-koo, received 2.43 billion KRW, a significant decrease from 3.74 billion KRW last year.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won received 3.9 billion KRW, about 100 million KRW less than last year.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong did not receive any compensation. Since March 2017, immediately after his detention in the political scandal case in February 2017, Lee has recorded 'no compensation' and has continued to manage the company without pay even after his release in February 2018.
Hyosung Honorary Chairman Cho Seok-rae, who stepped down as head, received the largest amount of 26.619 billion KRW. Although his base salary was 1.5 billion KRW, his retirement income amounted to 25.119 billion KRW. Cho stepped down to honorary chairman in January 2018 and received his retirement settlement in March this year.
Former GS Group Honorary Chairman Heo Chang-soo, who retired at the end of last year, also received a total of 15.155 billion KRW, including 11.773 billion KRW in retirement pay from GS Corporation and 3.382 billion KRW from GS Construction.
Additionally, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-yeol received 6.5 billion KRW, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun 3.85 billion KRW, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae 1.4 billion KRW, and Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won 870 million KRW.
Excluding the heads of conglomerates, Samsung Electronics Senior Advisor Kwon Oh-hyun received the highest compensation in the first half with 11.3 billion KRW, most of which was retirement pay (9.3 billion KRW).
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