A Non-owner CEO Turns out to Be the "Salary King" in South Korea: Chairman of Samsung Kwon Oh-hyun Earned 24.3 Billion Won

[경향신문]

Yonhap News

Kwon Oh-hyun (66), chairman of Samsung Electronics received a total of 24.3 billion won as his salary while serving as the vice chairman of the company last year. Kwon earned the highest salary among CEOs, including owners and non-owners. This was thanks to the semiconductor boom and Samsung Electronics' ousting of Intel to secure the top position among international semiconductor companies last year. Among the group owners, Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group earned the most money with 15.2 billion won, followed by Suh Kyung-bae, chairman of AmorePacific with 11 billion won. As for the average salary of employees, the employees at the three oil-refining companies all earned on average more than 100 million won.

According to the December Business Report on Corporate Accounts that each company submitted through the electronic announcement system of the Financial Supervisory Service on April 2, Kwon received 1.8 billion won in wages, 7.7 billion won as a bonus and 14.8 billion won as "other earned income" including a single special bonus last year. Kwon's income increased nearly fourfold from his total salary in 2016, which was 6.6 billion won. When we divide Kwon's salary last year, 24.3 billion won, into the number of working days (246), Kwon made 99 million won a day. Samsung Electronics said, "We took into consideration his significant contribution in leading the company to record operating profits of 50 trillion won by greatly improving the profitability of the semiconductor business." Samsung Electronics took advantage of the semiconductor boom last year and continued to achieve record-high earnings.

Vice chairmen Yoon Boo-keun and Shin Jong-kyun, who stepped down from the head of the business at the end of last October along with Kwon, received 7.6 billion won and 8.4 billion won respectively. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics who was arrested in February 2017 received 871 million won as his salary for January and February.

Among the CEOs who also own the company, the late Lee Soo-young, chairman of OCI received the highest salary with 19.4 billion won, followed by Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, who received 15.2 billion won from the group's affiliates. Shin received 5 billion won from Lotte Chemical and 2.4 billion won from Lotte Shopping. He also received 1.5 billion won from Lotte Chilsung Beverage, and 1.3 billion won and 800 million won from Lotte Holdings and Lotte Confectionery respectively, receiving over 11.2 billion won from major listed affiliates alone. When we add the income received from Hotel Lotte (3 billion won) and Lotte E&C (1 billion won), unlisted companies, Shin received over 15.2 billion won last year.

Suh Kyung-bae, chairman of AmorePacific Group also received a total of 10.9 billion won from AmorePacific and AmorePacific Group, a 220% increase from last year. Earnings were sluggish last year due to China's retaliatory measures against the placement of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, but the company explained that Suh's salary exceeded 10 billion won due to long-term incentives. In the public report, AmorePacific stated, "Long-term incentives are handed out every three years to people in senior executive or higher positions. The company measures the rate at which the company achieved long-term operating profit goals every three years to encourage long-term profits and the implementation of strategic tasks. In the case of chairmen, the company can hand out long-term incentives amounting to 0~480% of the average salary of the three years.

Chung Mong-koo (80), chairman of Hyundai Motor Group received nearly 4.6 billion won from Hyundai Motor Company and 3.4 billion from Hyundai Mobis. Thus his salary last year was 8 billion won. Huh Chang-soo, chairman of GS received a total of 7 billion won from GS and GS E&C, and Koo Bon-moo, chairman of LG received 6.3 billion won. Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group received a total of 2 billion won last year.

In SK Group, Kim Chang-geun, chairman of the board of SK Innovation received the highest salary with 3.5 billion won last year just as in 2016. In LG Group, Jo Seong-jin, vice chairman of LG Electronics who improved the company's performance in his second year, received the highest salary among LG executives who were not members of the owner family. He received 2.5 billion won.

Among the CEOs of South Koreas three telecommunication service providers, Hwang Chang-gyu, chairman of KT earned the highest salary with 2.3 billion won. Kwon Young-soo, vice chairman of LG Uplus followed with 2.3 billion won, followed by Park Jung-ho, president of SK Telecom with a total of 2.2 billion won