Sony Chairman's 2.3 Times... Shin Jun-ho, Japan's Highest Paid CEO with 45 Billion Yen Salary

Z Holdings CEO Shin Jungho Receives 45 Billion KRW
Ranks First for Two Consecutive Years Following Last Year

Jung-ho Shin, CEO of Z Holdings, was surveyed as the highest-paid salaried worker in Japan last year. Including the valuation of stock options, CEO Shin received 4.86 billion yen (approximately 45 billion KRW).

On the 12th, Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing data from Tokyo Shoko Research, that Jung-ho Shin, CEO of Z Holdings, ranked first in total compensation in Japan last year. The list of Japan's "Top 30 Salaried Workers by Annual Salary" includes not only Japanese nationals but also a significant number of foreigners.

This appears to be because, in Japan, executive compensation is generally low, but when recruiting famous overseas executives, companies tend to match their overseas salaries, resulting in such outcomes.

Z Holdings, where CEO Shin is currently employed, was formed by integrating Line and Yahoo Japan, which were subsidiaries of Naver and SoftBank, respectively.

Following him, in second place was Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman and CEO of Sony Group, with a total compensation of 2.08 billion yen. The music business and semiconductor business dealing with image sensors for smartphones performed well, leading to a significant increase in performance-based compensation linked to earnings per share (EPS). Additionally, he received many stock options.

Christophe Weber, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, ranked third. His annual compensation totaled 720 million yen. At Takeda Pharmaceutical, not only CEO Weber but also directors Andrew Plump and Costa Saroukos were selected in the top 30. Directors Plump and Saroukos earned annual compensations of 970 million yen and 690 million yen, ranking 9th and 19th respectively.

Fourth place was taken by John Marotta, former president of medical device manufacturer PHC Holdings (HD). His compensation was 1.654 billion yen, of which approximately half, 835 million yen, was retirement gratuity.

CEO Shin was also ranked first as the highest-paid corporate executive in Japan last year. As CEO of Line and GCPO of Z Holdings, Jung-ho Shin received 4.33 billion yen (41.1 billion KRW), of which 4.1 billion yen was stock options.

Meanwhile, CEO Shin is an engineer from "Chotnun," a search-specialized company acquired by Naver in 2006. He led the founding of Naver Japan in 2008 and the birth and rapid growth of Line in 2011, and currently leads Naver's global business.