Former Ecopro Chairman Dong-chae Lee Enters Top 10 Shareholders... Samsung Family Maintains 1st to 4th Positions

CEO Score Investigates Shareholder Equity Value of Domestic Listed Companies This Year
Lee Jae-yong's Equity Value Increases by 3 Trillion Won in One Year

The value of shares held by the top 100 domestic stock tycoons increased by more than 19 trillion won this year. As the stock prices of companies related to secondary batteries surged, five individuals, including Lee Dong-chae, former chairman of EcoPro, and Ryu Kwang-ji, chairman of Kumyang, newly joined the 10 trillion won stock tycoon club.

On the 27th, CEO Score, a corporate data research institute, announced the results of an investigation into the shares and equity values held by individual shareholders of domestic listed companies based on the closing prices of the previous day.

The equity value of the top 100 stock tycoons was calculated at 118.8377 trillion won. This is a 19.5% increase compared to the equity value of the top 100 on December 29 last year (99.4605 trillion won). This figure surpasses the KOSPI index's rise of 16.4%, from 2236.40 to 2602.59, during the same period. The KOSDAQ index rose 24.9%, from 679.29 to 848.34.

Former Chairman Lee Dong-chae of EcoPro.
Photo by Yonhap News

Lee Dong-chae, former chairman of EcoPro, the leader in domestic secondary batteries, newly entered the 'Top 10' of domestic stock tycoons, standing shoulder to shoulder with heads of large corporations. His equity value increased by 541.6%, from 501.8 billion won at the end of last year to 3.2196 trillion won this year. His ranking among stock tycoons jumped from 47th last year to 8th this year.

Chairman Ryu Kwang-ji's equity value also rose by 334.3%, from 549.1 billion won to 2.3849 trillion won. His stock tycoon ranking improved from 39th to 11th. Kwak Dong-shin, vice chairman of Hanmi Semiconductor, Cho Hyun-beom, chairman of Korea & Company, and Lee Chae-yoon, president of Lino Industrial, also joined the 1 trillion won equity value club.

Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics.
Photo by Yonhap News

Following last year, the Samsung family maintained the top four positions among domestic stock tycoons this year. The order was Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics (14.6556 trillion won), Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Leeum Museum (9.2309 trillion won), Lee Boo-jin, president of Hotel Shilla (7.0187 trillion won), and Lee Seo-hyun, chairwoman of the Samsung Welfare Foundation (6.0031 trillion won).

The stock tycoon whose equity value increased the most over the year was Chairman Lee Jae-yong. The value of his holdings in Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung SDS, Samsung Engineering, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance rose, increasing his stock value by 2.9821 trillion won (25.5%) over the year.

Following him were former chairman Lee Dong-chae (increase of 2.7178 trillion won), former director Hong Ra-hee (2.5279 trillion won), chairman Ryu Kwang-ji (1.8358 trillion won), vice chairman Kwak Dong-shin (1.6877 trillion won), chairman Cho Jung-ho of Meritz Financial Group (1.6168 trillion won), president Lee Boo-jin (1.4563 trillion won), chairwoman Lee Seo-hyun (1.1776 trillion won), and chairman Chung Eui-sun of Hyundai Motor Group (939.2 billion won). CEO Score explained, "The increase in Chairman Cho Jung-ho's equity value is attributed to Meritz Financial Group's full acquisition of Meritz Securities and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance as subsidiaries in April, which raised the corporate value."

Among the top 20 stock tycoons, the equity values of Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao, Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Seo Kyung-bae, chairman of Amorepacific Group, declined. Kim Beom-su's equity value (3.0952 trillion won) decreased by 1.4% compared to last year due to repeated unfairness controversies surrounding Kakao in the second half of the year, dropping his ranking from 7th to 9th. Chairman Chey Tae-won's equity value (2.275 trillion won) fell by 7.4%, lowering his rank from 10th to 12th. Chairman Seo Kyung-bae's equity value (2.1426 trillion won) decreased by 14.2%, sliding from 9th to 15th.

Chairman Kim Chang-soo of F&F, Chairman Cho Young-sik of SD Biosensor, and President Kim Taek-jin of NCSoft were excluded from the 'Top 20' stock tycoons due to a decline in their equity values. CEO Score commented, "President Kim Taek-jin's equity value appears to have declined because the popularity of NCSoft's flagship game series 'Lineage' has waned and investors' interest in the gaming sector has decreased."