Large conglomerate holding companies or flagship companies were tallied to have earned more than 2 trillion won last year solely from trademark royalty fees paid by affiliates.
On the 18th, data obtained by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yang-soo from the Korea Fair Trade Commission showed that the brand-name fees of 102 designated conglomerates subject to disclosure with at least 5 trillion won in asset amounted to 2.2239 trillion won last year, setting an all-time high. The previous record was 2.1530 trillion won a year earlier.
Trademark royalties are paid when a flagship company receives a trademark from an affiliate or when it acquires a trademark due to the introduction of a new corporate identity (CI).
Among the 102 groups designated as conglomerates this year, 80 groups as of last year received trademark royalties from 1,016 affiliates. The brand-name fee aggregates were 1.3468 trillion won in 2020, 1.5207 trillion won in 2021, and 1.7760 trillion won in 2022, remaining in the 1 trillion-won range, before surpassing 2 trillion won in 2023 (2.0354 trillion won). They continued to increase in 2024 and 2025.
By corporation, SK received the most trademark royalties last year at 349.9 billion won. SK rose to No. 1 after placing second from 2020 to 2024. LG, which had held the top spot throughout, slipped one notch to second with 349.0 billion won.
Hanwha (199.2 billion won) and CJ (133.1 billion won), which underwent on-site inspections this year by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to examine whether brand royalties were appropriate, placed third and fourth, respectively. POSCO was fifth (128.2 billion won) and Lotte sixth (124.4 billion won), both exceeding 100 billion won.
They were followed by GS (99.2 billion won), Hyosung (61.6 billion won), HD Hyundai (57.5 billion won), and LS (57.3 billion won).