Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, LG behind half of corporate sales, payroll in Korea

South Korea’s top four conglomerates – Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG – represent nearly half of entire sales raised by 71 business groups in the country.

According to the data compiled by local market tracker Korea CXO Institute on Wednesday, the combined revenue of 2,612 business units of 71 business groups totaled 160.7 trillion won ($1.5 trillion) in 2020. It slightly fell from the previous year’s 1,617 trillion won raised by 64 business groups due to the impact of Covid-19.

The 71 business groups’ total revenue of 1,607 trillion won in 2020 is almost 83.5 percent of the country’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 1,924 trillion won.

The four biggest conglomerates accounted for 778 trillion won or 48.5 percent of the entire sales by 71 top business groups.

Samsung Group that posted 333 trillion won in sales accounted for 20.8 percent, followed by Hyundai Motor Group with 181 trillion won or 11.3 percent, SK Group 139 trillion won or 8.7 percent and LG Group 123 trillion won or 7.7 percent.

The fifth biggest business group by sales was Posco that recorded 60 trillion won in revenue which took up 3.8 percent, trailed by Nonghyup 59 trillion won or 3.7 percent, Hanwha 56.6 trillion won or 3.5 percent, Lotte 56.4 trillion won or 3.5 percent and GS 48 trillion won or 3 percent.

The combined net profit of the 71 groups reached 55 trillion won in 2020, down by 2 trillion won from a year earlier. Samsung represented 37 percent with a net income of 20.7 trillion won.

SK ranked second by raising 9.8 trillion won in net income and accounting for 17.7 percent. Hyundai Motor’s net profit reached 3.9 trillion won or 7 percent, LG 3.2 trillion won or 5.8 percent and Nonghyup 2.9 trillion won or 5.4 percent.

The nation’s gaming giant Nexon showed the highest net profit margin. Its sales totaled 3.2 trillion won and net profit 1.1 trillion won, bringing the net profit margin to 35.6 percent.

The average net income margin of the 71 business groups came at 3.5 percent.

The top four conglomerates also had a high contribution to the country’s job market. The 71 groups had more than 1.62 million employees, accounting for 11.5 percent of employees covered by the state employment insurance policy. The four major groups took 43 percent or 698,367 workers. Samsung Electronics had the biggest workforce of 262,127 as of the end of 2020, up 1,241 from the previous year.

Hyundai Motor had 167,839 employees on its payroll and LG 154,920 in 2020, each growing by around 1,000. SK added the most number of new hires of 3,937 over the period, making the total to 114,481.

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