Average Annual Salary of Major Food Company Owners Last Year: 2.9 Billion KRW
"Salary King" Was Shin Dong-bin
Average Employee Salary at 3-Trillion-KRW Club Food Companies: 58 Million KRW
Lower Than Large Corporation Average of 71 Million KRW
The average annual salary of owners leading major domestic food companies was found to exceed 2.9 billion KRW. Although many companies recorded sluggish performance due to domestic demand stagnation, the owners' compensation soared. In particular, Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, earned 6.1 billion KRW through food affiliates, while Dam Cheol-gon, Chairman of Orion Group, and Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, earned 4.6 billion KRW and 3.7 billion KRW respectively. However, the salary levels of employees at food companies remained at the lowest level compared to other industries.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 25th, the 'salary king' in the food industry last year was Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group. Chairman Shin received a salary of 2.223 billion KRW and a bonus of 382 million KRW from Lotte Wellfood, totaling 2.605 billion KRW. Additionally, from Lotte Chilsung Beverage, he received a salary of 2.998 billion KRW and a bonus of 495 million KRW, totaling 3.493 billion KRW. The total compensation Chairman Shin received from Lotte Wellfood and Lotte Chilsung Beverage was 6.098 billion KRW, more than 500 million KRW higher than the previous year (5.523 billion KRW).
The owner with the second highest salary was Dam Cheol-gon, Chairman of Orion Group. Last year, Chairman Dam received a total of 3.082 billion KRW from Orion, combining a salary of 1.513 billion KRW and a bonus of 1.569 billion KRW. From Orion Holdings, he received 780 million KRW in salary and 808 million KRW in bonuses, totaling 1.588 billion KRW. This was slightly lower than the previous year (4.631 billion KRW). However, when combined with the salary of his wife, Lee Hwa-kyung, Vice Chairwoman of Orion Group, the couple earned a total of 8.32 billion KRW. Vice Chairwoman Lee received 2.397 billion KRW and 1.235 billion KRW from Orion and Orion Holdings respectively last year.
Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, received a salary of 3.749 billion KRW from CJ CheilJedang, and Kim Ho-yeon, Chairman of Binggrae, received 3.324 billion KRW. Following them were Lim Chang-wook, Chairman of Daesang Group (2.088 billion KRW), Kim Jung-soo, Vice Chairman of Samyang Round Square and Samyang Foods (1.87652 billion KRW), Shin Dong-won, Chairman of Nongshim (1.73273 billion KRW), Kim Nam-jung, Chairman of Dongwon Group (1.579 billion KRW), and Ham Young-jun, Chairman of Ottogi (1.36 billion KRW), in that order.
While Kim Jung-soo, Vice Chairman of Samyang Foods, which posted record-high performance last year, saw his salary decrease by about 400 million KRW, Kim Ho-yeon, Chairman of Binggrae, had his compensation increase by 1.2 billion KRW (61%). Chairman Hur Young-in of SPC Group and Nam Seung-woo, Chairman of Pulmuone, did not receive salaries from SPC Samlip and Pulmuone respectively.
On the other hand, the average annual salary of food company employees with annual sales exceeding 3 trillion KRW last year was about 58 million KRW. Compared to the average annual salary of 71.21 million KRW for domestic large corporations last year, this is significantly lower. The food industry is evaluated to have lower employee salaries than other industries due to low operating profit margins.
Among the 3 trillion KRW club, Orion had the highest average salary per employee. Orion employees received an average of 88 million KRW last year, which was the same level as the previous year. Following were CJ CheilJedang (82 million KRW), Lotte Chilsung Beverage (69 million KRW), Pulmuone (66 million KRW), Daesang (62 million KRW), Nongshim (61 million KRW), Lotte Wellfood (58 million KRW), SPC Samlip (52 million KRW), Dongwon F&B (51 million KRW), Ottogi (49 million KRW), and CJ Freshway (36 million KRW).
The food company with the highest salary is Hite Jinro. Although it did not enter the 3 trillion KRW club, Hite Jinro has recorded the highest employee salary for four consecutive years. Last year, Hite Jinro's average salary per employee was 116.7 million KRW, more than twice the salary of employees at companies in the 3 trillion KRW club. This was an increase of 3.05 million KRW from 113.65 million KRW the previous year. Hite Jinro opened the era of average annual salaries exceeding 100 million KRW in the food and beverage industry for the first time in 2021 with an average salary of 103.71 million KRW and has maintained a similar level since then.
An industry insider explained, "The food industry has a high turnover rate and many sales and production-related positions with low seniority, so salaries are not high. On the other hand, Hite Jinro has many long-term employees, so the average salary is higher than other companies."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
