Following Hyundai's Chung Mong-koo and Chung Eui-sun
4th to 6th Places: Lee Boo-jin, Hong Ra-hee, and Lee Seo-hyun
Last year, the individual who received the highest dividend in South Korea was Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics.
On the 18th, Leaders Index, a corporate analysis research institute, surveyed 560 companies that announced cash and in-kind dividends by the 14th. The total dividends of these companies last year amounted to 40.709 trillion KRW, which is about a 10.4% increase compared to 36.8631 trillion KRW in 2023. The institute explained, "SK Hynix, which recorded its best-ever performance, led the increase by doubling its dividends," and added, "The dividend expansion strategies of companies aligned with the government's value-up (corporate value enhancement) policy also had an impact." Among the surveyed companies, 285 companies, accounting for 51%, increased their dividends compared to the previous year, while 94 companies, or 16.7%, maintained the same amount. There were 181 companies (32.3%) that reduced their dividends.
The top individual dividend recipient was Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who received 346.5 billion KRW last year, an increase of 22.8 billion KRW compared to the previous year. The second place was Chung Mong-koo, Honorary Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, with 189.2 billion KRW, and the third was Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, who received 174.7 billion KRW. The 4th to 6th places were occupied by the Samsung family mother and daughters: Lee Boo-jin, President of Shilla Hotel (148.3 billion KRW), Hong Ra-hee, former Director of Leeum Museum of Art (146.7 billion KRW), and Lee Seo-hyun, President of Samsung C&T Corporation (114.5 billion KRW). These three showed a decrease in dividends compared to the previous year as they sold some shares to pay inheritance tax. Following them were Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group (91.0 billion KRW) in 7th place, Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group (77.8 billion KRW) in 8th, Chung Mong-joon, Chairman of Asan Foundation (75.6 billion KRW) in 9th, and Kim Nam-ho, Chairman of DB Group (43.9 billion KRW) in 10th place.
In 2024, there were a total of seven companies whose dividends exceeded 1 trillion KRW. These were Samsung Electronics (9.8107 trillion KRW), Hyundai Motor (3.1478 trillion KRW), Kia (2.559 trillion KRW), SK Hynix (1.5195 trillion KRW), KB Financial Group (1.0023 trillion KRW), Shinhan Financial Group (1.088 trillion KRW), and Hana Financial Group (1.0159 trillion KRW). Additionally, the company with the largest increase in total dividends compared to the previous year was SK Hynix, which paid out 694.1 billion KRW (84.1%) more than the 825.4 billion KRW in 2023.
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