Samsung’s Stock Soars in Recent Surge... Jae-yong Lee’s Stock Valuation Nears 25 Trillion Won

Korea CXO Institute Surveys Stock Valuation Trends of Group Heads
Survey Targets 45 Group Heads with Stock Valuations Over 100 Billion Won
Combined Stock Valuation of Group Heads Reaches 93 Trillion Won at Start of Year
Jae-yong Lee, Chairman of

The combined stock valuation of the heads of Korea's 45 major conglomerates has increased by more than 3.54 trillion won over the past year. Jae-yong Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, saw the most significant upward trend, with his stock valuation nearing 25.87 trillion won at the start of the new year.

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

Korea CXO Institute, a corporate analysis firm, released the results of its survey on January 5, which tracked changes in the stock valuations of major conglomerate heads as of January 2 last year and January 2 this year.

The survey targeted 45 conglomerate heads whose stock valuations exceeded 100 billion won at the beginning of this year, out of the 92 large business groups designated by the Fair Trade Commission last year. Among them, 41 individuals (91.1%) experienced an increase in their stock valuations over the past year.

According to the survey, the combined stock valuation of the 45 conglomerate heads stood at 57.8801 trillion won at the beginning of last year, rising to 93.3388 trillion won at the beginning of this year-an increase of 35.4587 trillion won, or 61.3%.

Chairman Jae-yong Lee recorded the most notable increase in stock valuation during this period. The value of his stock holdings was around 11.9099 trillion won at the beginning of last year, surpassed 20 trillion won in October, and reached 25.8766 trillion won at the beginning of this year. It appears that the stock valuations of Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, and Samsung Life Insurance each increased by over 1 trillion won during the year, significantly contributing to this rise.

In particular, the value of Chairman Lee's Samsung Electronics stock soared from 5.2019 trillion won to 12.5177 trillion won over the past year-an increase of more than 7.3158 trillion won. This was also driven by a rise of over 4.9051 trillion won in his Samsung C&T stock valuation and by the transfer of 1,808,577 shares of Samsung C&T from his mother, Hong Ra-hee, Honorary Director of the Leeum Museum of Art, on January 2.

Oh Il-seon, head of Korea CXO Institute, commented, "There is interest in whether Chairman Lee's stock valuation could surpass 30 trillion won in the future," adding, "If Samsung Electronics' share price rises to the 170,000-180,000 won range, Korea could see its first stockholder with a valuation exceeding 30 trillion won."

The conglomerate head with the next largest increase in stock valuation was Seo Jungjin, Chairman of Celltrion. Chairman Seo's stock valuation grew from 10.4308 trillion won at the beginning of last year to 13.6914 trillion won at the beginning of this year, an increase of about 3.2606 trillion won.

Brian Kim, founder and Head of Future Initiative Center at Kakao, and Chung Mongjoon, largest shareholder of HD Hyundai and Chairman of the Asan Foundation, also saw their stock assets grow by more than 2 trillion won each over the past year. In addition, Bang Si-hyuk, Chairman of the Board at HYBE, Euisun Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Company, Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, and Cho Hyunjoon, Chairman of Hyosung, each saw their stock assets increase by more than 1 trillion won during the same period.

Meanwhile, the conglomerate head with the highest rate of increase in stock assets over the past year was Lee Yonghan, Chairman of Wonik. His stock valuation jumped from 129.7 billion won at the beginning of last year to 783.2 billion won at the beginning of this year, an increase of 503.7%. Chairman Lee holds shares in Wonik Holdings, Wonik QnC, and Wonik Cube. The decisive factor was the share price of Wonik Holdings, which soared from just 2,810 won at the beginning of last year to 47,650 won at the beginning of this year, a rise of 1,595.7%.