As Mirae Asset Securities shares surge, Chair Park Hyun-joo's foresight is drawing attention. Park, an entrepreneur who started as a salaried worker at a securities firm and built one of Korea's leading financial groups, has repeatedly emphasized to employees that members of the organization should participate in the company's growth to accumulate asset and strengthen competitiveness.
Mirae Asset Securities' stock price climbed steeply as expectations grew for a listing of Elon Musk's "SpaceX," in which the company invested, coupled with prospects for improved core business results amid a booming stock market. In particular, not only the common shares but also the preferred shares previously allotted to employees soared together, fueling speculation that Chair Park's vision—that the company's growth should translate into employees' asset accumulation—may be coming to fruition.
However, with prolonged stock underperformance and the burden of financing costs, there were reportedly not a few cases of midcourse selling, leading to analysis that few employees fully enjoyed the benefits of the latest spike.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 4th, Mirae Asset Securities rose 208.35% this year (Jan. 2–Feb. 27) alone. During the same period, MiraeAssetSecurities2UoB also climbed 104.9%.
Unlike common shares, MiraeAssetSecurities2UoB, in principle, has no voting rights but is a preferred share with priority in dividends. The priority dividends are set at 2.4% of the issue price, and if preferred dividends are less than those of common shares, the company pays the same amount as the common shares.
In particular, Mirae Asset Securities employees hold many MiraeAssetSecurities2UoB shares. This is because, in the 2018 rights offering of 700 billion won (140 million shares) by Mirae Asset Securities, 20% was preferentially allotted to the employee stock ownership association.
At the time, the shares were issued as MiraeAssetSecurities2UoB at an issue price of 5,000 won. If an employee who subscribed then had held the shares until now, the return would have been about 361%.
However, employees' actual choices diverged. Some held long-term and benefited from the recent surge, but only a very small number are said to have held the shares until now.
As the share price stayed below or moved sideways around the offer price for a long period, there were not a few cases of selling in the middle. A company official said, "Since the share price moved below 5,000 won for a long time, most sold when it recovered the offer price," adding, "However, in cases where they held until recently, there are also instances of considerable gains."
At the time of the rights offering, MiraeAssetSecurities2UoB was in the 4,800-won range, and until 2025 it repeatedly rose and fell between 2,200 won and 5,000 won. It was only in May 2025 that it first exceeded 5,000 won. The share price rose 431.59% in the past year alone.
In particular, among employees allotted shares through the employee stock ownership association, those who used the "employee stock acquisition loan program" to prepare subscription funds faced ongoing financing expense burdens as the share price stayed below or moved sideways around the offer price (5,000 won) for a long time, and some reportedly sold when the price recovered to the offer price.
As a result, there is growing regret internally over not living up to Chair Park's management philosophy.
Chair Park has said in New Year's addresses and messages to employees that "the company's growth is thanks to the efforts of all employees," and that "talent is Mirae Asset's competitiveness." In addition, at a government event on the venture ecosystem in September, Park noted, "When you want to attract good talent, you can consider methods like a 'golden share.'"
Recently, the company has also been strengthening its talent compensation system. In January, Mirae Asset Securities held a board meeting and resolved to grant a total of 1.1 million stock options to 16 specialist personnel in core digital fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and Web3. The exercise price is 29,450 won. A securities industry official said, "As digital transformation competition intensifies, there is a trend toward expanding performance-based rewards not only for top management but also for working-level staff."