Stock Holdings of Top 100 Richest Reach 177 Trillion Won
Lee Jae-yong Regains No.1 Spot with 23 Trillion Won
By the end of this year, the combined stock holdings of Korea's top 100 richest stockholders reached 177 trillion won, an increase of nearly 70 trillion won over the past year. Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, topped the list, with his stock value rising by 11 trillion won during the same period. This was largely due to Samsung Electronics’ share price nearly doubling as the memory industry entered a super cycle in the second half of the year.
According to a survey by corporate data research institute CEO Score, which examined individual shareholders’ stock holdings and values in listed companies as of the end of December last year and December 19 this year, the combined stock value of the top 100 richest stockholders in listed companies increased from 107.6314 trillion won to 177.2131 trillion won, a rise of 69.5817 trillion won (64.6%) during this period.
Lee Jae-yong, Stock Holdings Worth 23.3 Trillion Won... Unrivaled No.1
Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s stock holdings soared from 12.033 trillion won at the end of last year to 23.359 trillion won as of December 19, a dramatic increase of 11.326 trillion won (94.1%). This surge is attributed to the rising share prices of Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, and Samsung Life Insurance, all of which Lee holds.
Specifically, the value of Lee’s Samsung Electronics shares jumped from 5.1885 trillion won to 10.3666 trillion won during the same period, an increase of 5.1781 trillion won (99.8%). His holdings in Samsung C&T and Samsung Life Insurance also grew by 4.5468 trillion won (116.9%) and 1.2569 trillion won (63.5%), respectively. Furthermore, as Lee is set to receive all of his mother Hong Ra-hee’s Samsung C&T shares (1,808,577 shares, representing a 1.06% stake), his total stock value is expected to increase even further.
Jo Jung-ho Ranks Second... Three Samsung Family Women in the Top Five
Jo Jung-ho, Chairman of Meritz Financial Group, ranked second. Although he overtook Lee Jae-yong as the richest stockholder in March this year, the current value of his holdings stands at 10.7131 trillion won. The gap with Lee has widened to 12.6459 trillion won.
Next in line are Honorary Director Hong Ra-hee (9.8202 trillion won), Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla (8.8389 trillion won), and Lee Seo-hyun, President of Samsung C&T (8.1173 trillion won), placing the three Samsung family women in third to fifth place. They are followed by Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Motor Group (6.2537 trillion won), Chairman Chung Eui-sun of Hyundai Motor Group (5.917 trillion won), Park Soon-jae, CEO of Alteogen (4.5723 trillion won), Chung Mong-joon, Honorary Chairman of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies (4.1771 trillion won), and Bang Si-hyuk, Chairman of HYBE (4.123 trillion won).
BTS Members Also Make the Top Ranks
By age group, only two people in their 30s made it into the top 100 richest stockholders: Kim Byoung-hoon, CEO of APR (born in 1988, 2.0947 trillion won), and Oh Soo-jung (born in 1986), daughter of Oh Joon-ho, founder of Rainbow Robotics.
For those under 30, the top spot went to Kwak Ho-seong and Kwak Ho-jung, the sons of Kwak Dong-shin, Chairman of Hanmi Semiconductor. The value of their respective stock holdings reached 286.5 billion won, up 75.5% (123.3 billion won) from 163.2 billion won at the end of last year. In addition, K-pop group BTS members Jimin, V, and Jungkook also made it into the top 100 richest stockholders under 30 in listed companies.
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