2021 Business Performance: Lee Jae-yong Ranks 1st... Kim Beom-su Joins the '90 Club'

Analysis of 58 Groups by Korea CXO Institute
Top 3 in Sales: Lee Jae-yong, Chung Eui-sun, Choi Tae-won
Highest Operating Profit Growth: Cho Won-tae
Janggeum Shipping, Net Profit Growth Rate 7370%
Park Chan-gu and 8 Others Enter '90 Club'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] An analysis of the management performance of domestic conglomerate heads last year revealed that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong secured an unshakable first place in four categories: sales, operating profit, net profit, and employment scale. In terms of group-wide operating profit growth rate, Hanjin Chairman Cho Won-tae ranked first, while Jung Chang-sun, Chairman of Jungheung Construction, and others were among the top ranks in group sales and employment growth rates. Additionally, among the nine group heads last year, one achieved over 30% growth in sales, operating profit, and net profit within the past year.

The Korea CXO Institute announced on the 30th that this was the result of analyzing the 2021 management report card. The analysis targeted 58 groups out of 76 conglomerates with fair asset sizes exceeding 5 trillion won announced by the Fair Trade Commission this year, excluding those newly incorporated into conglomerates this year.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong recorded overwhelming first place in four categories: total group sales, operating profit, net profit, and employment scale. Samsung's total group sales last year amounted to 378.74 trillion won, accounting for 23.7% of the total sales of 1,596 trillion won among the 58 groups surveyed. This means that Vice Chairman Lee achieved about one-quarter of the total sales generated by the heads of the 58 groups. Operating profit and net profit were 42.5512 trillion won and 41 trillion won, respectively, representing 36.3% and 42.5% of the total operating profit and net profit of the 58 groups. Last year, Samsung Group was responsible for employing 266,854 people, accounting for 18.7% of the total 1,425,682 employees across the 58 groups.

Following Vice Chairman Lee, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won ranked in the top three for sales. Chairman Chung recorded group sales of approximately 211 trillion won last year, holding a 13.2% sales position. Chairman Chey followed with 169 trillion won (10.6%), ranking third.

Unlike sales, in the two categories of operating profit and net profit, SK Group Chairman Chey ranked second. Last year, SK Group's total operating profit was 19.9849 trillion won (15.2%), and net profit was 18.4059 trillion won (15.2%), the second highest after Samsung.

In terms of employment, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung ranked second. Last year, Hyundai Motor employed 174,952 people (12.3%).

In terms of growth rate rather than sales scale, Jung Chang-sun, Chairman of Jungheung Construction, ranked first. Chairman Jung increased group sales from 3.1516 trillion won in 2020 to 11.6633 trillion won last year, a 270.1% increase in one year. By acquiring Daewoo Construction, the group's overall sales growth rate was the highest among the 58 group heads.

The highest operating profit growth rate went to Hanjin Chairman Cho Won-tae. Due to COVID-19, the group's total operating profit in 2020 was only 87 billion won, but last year it jumped 1,475% to 1.3705 trillion won.

The highest net profit growth rate was achieved by Jung Tae-soon, Chairman of Janggeum Shipping, with a figure exceeding 7,000%, far surpassing other group heads. In 2020, Janggeum Shipping's total net profit was only 22.3 billion won, but last year it increased significantly to 1.6718 trillion won, a 7,373.4% increase in one year.

Among the 58 groups surveyed, nine group heads entered this year's "90 Club," having increased their total group sales, operating profit, and net profit by more than 30% compared to 2020. They are Chairman Jung Tae-soon of Janggeum Shipping, Chairman Jang Se-ju of Dongkuk Steel, Chairman Kim Hong-guk of Harim, Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, Chairman Woo Oh-hyun of SM (Samra Midas), Chairman Park Chan-gu of Kumho Petrochemical, Chairman Jung Chang-sun of Jungheung Construction, Chairman Kim Yoon of Samyang, and Chairman Kim Sang-yeol of Hoban Construction.

Oh Il-seon, Director of the Korea CXO Institute, said, "Despite the COVID-19 situation, the sales scale of the 58 groups increased by 16.6% in the past year, and operating profit and net profit rose significantly by 78.6% and 148%, respectively. Since the management performance can vary greatly depending on the decisions made by group heads even in crisis situations, it is important to look ahead and examine what investments and visions they present."