14.41 Million Domestic Stockholders Last Year... 4.1% Increase Compared to Previous Year

Samsung Electronics Has 6.38 Million Shareholders; Kakao Games Has 290,000 Shareholders

The Korea Securities Depository announced on the 16th that the number of shareholders of 2,509 listed companies with December fiscal year-end was approximately 14.41 million (including corporate owners) as of last year, an increase of 4.1% (570,000 people) compared to the previous year. This means that the number of investors investing in domestic stocks increased compared to the previous year.

The average number of stocks owned per person was 5.85, down 1.8% from the previous year, and the average number of shares owned per person was 7,688, down 0.8% from the previous year.

There were 796 companies with December fiscal year-end in the KOSPI market, the same as last year, and the number of owners increased by 4.4% to 12.88 million. The number of companies with December fiscal year-end in the KOSDAQ market increased by 5.5% to 1,584, while the number of owners decreased by 0.5% to 7.87 million. The number of companies with December fiscal year-end in the KONEX market increased by 0.8% to 129, and the number of owners remained the same at 50,000 during the same period.

By owner type, individual owners were the largest at 14.24 million (98.8%), followed by corporate owners (43,000 entities, 0.3%) and foreign owners (33,000 people, 0.2%).

The number of shares owned was 56.1 billion shares (50.7%) by individual owners, 40.7 billion shares (36.7%) by corporate owners, and 13.3 billion shares (12%) by foreign owners. The average number of shares owned per person (or corporation) was highest for corporate owners at 940,000 shares, followed by foreign owners at 410,000 shares, and individual owners at 3,940 shares. However, in the KOSPI market, corporate owners held the largest number of shares. Corporate owners held 27.1 billion shares (44.2%), the most, followed by individual owners with 23.2 billion shares (37.9%) and foreign owners with 11 billion shares (17.9%). In the KOSDAQ and KONEX markets, individual owners held the largest number of shares.

By company, in the KOSPI market, Samsung Electronics had the highest number of shareholders at 6,380,755, followed by Kakao (2,066,529) and Hyundai Motor (1,209,826). In the KOSDAQ market, Kakao Games had the highest number of shareholders at 293,904, followed by Celltrion Healthcare (277,691) and EcoPro BM (225,308).

Regarding the proportion of shares owned by foreign owners, there were a total of 33 companies where foreign ownership exceeded 50% of total shares. Among them, 17 were KOSPI-listed companies, 15 were KOSDAQ-listed companies, and 1 was a KONEX-listed company. The companies with the highest foreign ownership ratios were Dongyang Life Insurance (82%), S-OIL (77.23%), and Lock&Lock (77.1%). In the KOSDAQ market, Korea Investors Service (75.4%), Hugel (74%), and TCK (71.5%) ranked highest.

By age group among shareholders, those in their 40s accounted for the highest proportion at 22.9%. Based on the number of shares owned, those in their 50s held the most shares at 19.2 billion shares (34.2%). By gender, males accounted for 7.43 million (52.2%) and females 6.81 million (47.8%), with males owning 39.9 billion shares and females owning 16.2 billion shares.