At 62 listed affiliates of the four major groups — Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG — the number of executives (excluding the Oner family) whose holdings are worth more than 1 billion won is nearing 400. Most were at Samsung Electronics(005930) and SK hynix.
Korea CXO Institute, a corporate analysis agency, analyzed the semiannual reports of 62 listed companies at the Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG Group and found that, based on the closing price on the 24th, 398 executives had stock valuations exceeding 1 billion won. Their combined stock wealth reached 1.05 trillion won.
At Samsung Group, 269 executives, and at SK Group, 122 executives, had stock valuations over 1 billion won. The two groups accounted for 98.2% of the total. At Hyundai Motor Group, only four executives were "stock-rich" with more than 1 billion won, and at LG Group, only three.
By company, Samsung Electronics had 256 and SK hynix had 107, for a total of 363 executives (91.2%) at just the two firms. In Oct. last year, the two companies had 31 executives in the "1 billion club," but that number rose 11.7 times in 10 months. The increase appears to reflect stock-based compensation, as the firms paid performance bonuses and long-term incentives in treasury shares.
Among them, 12 executives held stocks worth 10 billion won or more: six at Samsung, five at SK, and one at Hyundai Motor. At LG Group, no executive held more than 10 billion won in stock.
No. 1 in stock valuation was Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-Moon at 31.93996 billion won. He was followed by SK hynix President Kwak Noh-jung at 23.91535 billion won, and SK Square Chief Investment Officer Song Jae-seung at 18.31136 billion won. Samsung Electronics President Park Hark-kyu had 18.07686 billion won, and Hyundai AutoEver Executive Director Seo Dong-gwon trailed with 16.54731 billion won.
Oil-seon, head of the CXO Institute, said, "As stock compensation that pays part of bonuses in treasury shares spreads, the way executives build wealth is changing from before."