Domestic listed companies bought back more than 14 trillion won in treasury stock last year and canceled over 12 trillion won. Korea Zinc was identified as the company that purchased the most treasury stock.
According to CEO Score from the Corporate Data Research Institute, as a result of investigating domestic listed companies that submitted disclosures on the acquisition, disposal, and cancellation of treasury stocks from 2023 to 2024, the scale of treasury stock acquired by listed companies last year was recorded at 14.3156 trillion won. This reflects a 72.8% increase compared to 2023 (8.2863 trillion won).
The scale of treasury stock cancellations also increased significantly. Last year's cancellation of treasury stock amounted to 12.1399 trillion won, a 156.0% increase compared to 4.7429 trillion won in 2023. This is believed to be due to an increase in cases of acquiring or canceling treasury stock to prevent stock price declines resulting from the domestic stock market recession.
It is interpreted that major domestic corporations actively adopted value-up programs and actively engaged in acquiring and canceling treasury stocks to defend against stock price declines resulting from the market recession.
Not only the scale but also the number of listed companies that proceeded with the acquisition and cancellation of treasury stocks significantly increased. Last year, 464 listed companies secured treasury stocks, an increase of 23.4% compared to 376 companies in 2023. During the same period, companies that canceled treasury stocks rose from 96 to 137, a 42.7% increase.
The company that acquired the most treasury stock among listed companies last year was Korea Zinc (2.1249 trillion won). Korea Zinc announced a strategy for public buying of treasury stock to gain an advantage in its management dispute with Young Poong and acquired treasury stock equivalent to 9.85% of its issued shares.
Korea Zinc announced in October last year that it would cancel 2,040,030 shares of treasury stock it had acquired to enhance shareholder value, but as of the end of January this year, it had not yet canceled these shares. In response, Young Poong pressured Korea Zinc on the 6th to fully cancel the treasury stock it holds.
Following Korea Zinc, Samsung Electronics was the next largest buyer of treasury stock, acquiring 1.9925 trillion won. Samsung Electronics previously announced a plan to split its acquisition of treasury stock worth a total of 10 trillion won.
Other companies that also acquired significant amounts of treasury stock include ▲Meriz Financial Group (862.4 billion won) ▲KB Financial (820 billion won) ▲Shinhan Financial Group (700 billion won) ▲KT&G (546.7 billion won) ▲Kia (500 billion won) ▲Celltrion (439.6 billion won) ▲NAVER (405.1 billion won) ▲Hana Financial Group (396.9 billion won).
The company that canceled the most treasury stock last year was Samsung C&T (1.0289 trillion won). Among domestic listed companies, Samsung C&T was the only one that canceled more than 1 trillion won in treasury stock.
Following that, KT&G canceled 861.7 billion won in treasury stock last year, along with SK Innovation (793.6 billion won), POSCO Holdings (754.5 billion won), NAVER (686.6 billion won), Meriz Financial Group (640.1 billion won), and KB Financial (620 billion won), also having significant treasury stock cancellations.