"Q3 Total Family Stock Wealth Drops by 19 Trillion Won... Lee Jae-yong Alone Maintains '10 Trillion Club'"

CXO Research Institute, Q3 Stock Valuation Fluctuation Survey
Kakao's Kim Beom-su Sees Stock Value Drop Over 6 Trillion in Q3 Alone

Group heads whose stock valuation decreased by more than 1 trillion won in the third quarter of 2022.
[Provided by CXO Research Institute]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] In the third quarter of this year, the stock wealth of the heads of 33 domestic groups decreased by nearly 19 trillion won. Amid this, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was the only group head to join the 10 trillion won stock wealth club.

The Korea CXO Research Institute, specializing in corporate analysis, announced the results of the "2022 Q3 Major Group Heads' Stock Valuation Changes Survey" on the 4th. The survey targeted 33 group heads whose stock valuation exceeded 100 billion won as of the end of September this year, among large business groups managed by the Fair Trade Commission.

According to the survey, the stock valuation of the 33 group heads was estimated at 64.6325 trillion won at the beginning of January this year, but it plummeted to 45.7034 trillion won in the third quarter. This means that one-third of the stock wealth of the 33 group heads disappeared in the third quarter alone.

Six group heads saw their stock valuations drop by trillions of won in the third quarter. The group head whose stock wealth decreased the most was confirmed to be Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao. Kim's total stock wealth was calculated at 6.0933 trillion won, which is about 6.1335 trillion won (50.2%) less compared to the 12.2269 trillion won recorded at the beginning of this year.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's stock valuation also sharply fell from 14.1866 trillion won at the beginning of the year to 10.8841 trillion won at the end of September. Lee's stock wealth showed a trend of decreasing by more than 1 trillion won in each of the first, second, and third quarters compared to the beginning of the year.

Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk of Netmarble also saw his stock value drop by 1.5796 trillion won (59.8%) over the past nine months, and Lee Hae-jin, Global Investment Officer (GIO) of Naver, saw his stock valuation fall from 2.3048 trillion won at the beginning of the year to 1.1861 trillion won at the end of September. In the third quarter alone, his stock wealth plunged by more than 1.118 trillion won (48.5%).

Chairman Seo Kyung-bae of Amorepacific and Honorary Chairman Seo Jung-jin of Celltrion also saw their stock wealth decrease by more than 1 trillion won in the third quarter. SK Chairman Chey Tae-won’s stock valuation also significantly dropped by more than 823.1 billion won in the third quarter. Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun’s stock value declined by more than 652.1 billion won.

On the other hand, four of the 33 group heads saw their stock wealth increase in the third quarter, drawing attention. The group head whose stock wealth increased the most over the past nine months was confirmed to be Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte. Shin’s stock wealth was 694.3 billion won at the beginning of the year and rose to 805.9 billion won at the end of September. This is an increase of 111.5 billion won (16.1%) over nine months. This was largely due to the price of Lotte Holdings’ common stock, which Shin holds, rising more than 28% from 29,850 won on January 3 to 38,300 won on September 30.

Additionally, Chairman Jang Hyung-jin of Youngpoong saw his stock valuation grow by more than 61.8 billion won (15.3%) in the third quarter, from 404.9 billion won at the beginning of the year to 466.7 billion won at the end of September. Chairman Lee Soon-hyung of SeAH increased by 33.6 billion won (from 111.6 billion won to 144.9 billion won), and Chairman Jung Mong-joon of Hyundai Heavy Industries Asan Foundation increased by 10.5 billion won (from 1.1262 trillion won to 1.1367 trillion won) in the third quarter.

Among the 33 group heads, 10 were members of the 1 trillion won stock wealth club. This is two fewer than at the beginning of January.

The top spot was taken by Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (10.8842 trillion won). The top three were followed by Honorary Chairman Seo Jung-jin (9.0073 trillion won) in second place and Founder Kim Beom-su (6.0933 trillion won) in third. Next were △4th place Chairman Chung Eui-sun (3.0142 trillion won) and △5th place Chairman Chey Tae-won (2.4931 trillion won).

CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun fell out of the 1 trillion won club with a stock wealth of 915 billion won as of the end of September. Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon also moved away from the 1 trillion won club with 678.6 billion won.

Oh Il-seon, director of the Korea CXO Research Institute, said, "The stock wealth of group heads has been continuously declining in the first quarter (end of March), second quarter (end of June), and third quarter (end of September) compared to the beginning of the year, and the business environment is expected to be more unstable next year, so there is little chance of a rebound in the fourth quarter of this year. Especially if the stocks held by IT company group heads fall further at the end of this year compared to the third quarter, distrust in the domestic stock market will deepen, and the damage to retail investors will inevitably increase."

Meanwhile, in this survey, stock wealth included both direct holdings of listed company stocks by the group heads and holdings of listed affiliate stocks through unlisted companies. For unlisted companies, the survey was limited to cases where the company holds more than 50% of the shares. Stock valuations were based on closing prices at the beginning of the year (January 3) and the end of September (September 30), and preferred stocks were also included in the survey scope.