Combined equity value of top 100 stock-rich Koreans up nearly 20% this year

Former EcoPro Chairman Lee Dong-chae [Courtesy of EcoPro]

The combined value of stock holdings among South Korea’s top 100 shareholders grew by more than 19 trillion won ($14.67 billion) over the past year, with former EcoPro Co. Chairman Lee Dong-chae and Kumyang Co. Chairman Ryu Kwang-ji newly joining the 1 trillion-won stock billionaire list on the back of secondary battery stock booms this year, data showed on Wednesday.

According to local business data tracker CEO Score, the value of stock ownership of the top 100 shareholders amounted to 118.84 trillion won based on Dec. 26 closing prices. This is a 19.5 percent increase compared to a year before. As of December 29, 2022, the value was at 99.46 trillion won. CEO Score compiled the data based on the individual shareholdings and ownership value of domestic listed companies.

The increase outperformed the benchmark Kospi, which rose 16.4 percent to 2,602.59 from 2,236.40 over the same period. The Kosdaq surged 24.9 percent from 679.29 to 848.34 during the same period.

With the price surge among secondary battery stocks, Lee Dong-chae who holds the majority shares of EcoPro stocks, which led the domestic secondary battery stock boom, entered the top 10 domestic shareholder list. Lee’s ownership value stood only at 501.8 billion won as of end-2022, but it skyrocketed to 3.22 trillion won, up a whopping 541.6 percent, consequently bringing Lee to the 8th richest stockholder from 47th last year. Kumyang Chairman Ryu also saw a 334.3 percent jump in ownership value to 2.39 trillion won from 549.1 billion won, climbing up in the top stockholder list ranking to 11th from 39th.

Others new to the 1 trillion won mark in stock ownership value included Hanmi Semiconductor Co. Vice Chairman Kwak Dong-shin, Hankook & Company Co. Chairman Cho Hyun-bum, and Leeno Industrial Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lee Chae-yoon.

Continuing from the previous year, this year’s top positions in the richest stockholder rankings were once again dominated by the Samsung Group owner family, including Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee with ownership value at 14.66 trillion won, former director of the Leeum Museum of Art Hong Ra-hee with 9.23 trillion won, Hotel Shilla Co. President Lee Boo-jin with 7.02 trillion won, and Samsung Welfare Foundation Chairman Lee Seo-hyun with 6 trillion won.

Over the past year, the richest shareholder witnessing the greatest increase in ownership value was Jay Y. Lee. With the rising ownership value of his holdings in Samsung Electronics, as well as in Samsung C&T Corp., Samsung Life Insurance Co., Samsung SDS Co., Samsung Engineering Co., and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., his total stock ownership value increased by 2.98 trillion won, or 25.5 percent over the year.

Following him were former EcoPro Chairman Lee Dong-chae, with an increase of 2.72 trillion won in the ownership value, former Leeum director Hong with an increase of 2.53 trillion won, Kumyang Chairman Ryu with an increase of 1.84 trillion won, Hanmi Semiconductor Vice Chairman Kwak with an increase of 1.69 trillion won, and Meritz Financial Group Inc. Chairman Cho Jung-ho with an increase of 1.62 trillion won, whose ownership values also increased significantly this year.

In the case of Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-ho, the increase in ownership value is attributed to the expansion of corporate value as Meritz Financial Group incorporated Meritz Securities Co. and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co. as wholly-owned subsidiaries in April.

On the other hand, among the top 20 richest shareholders, Kakao Corp. founder Kim Bum-soo, SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Amorepacific Group Chairman Suh Kyung-bae saw their ownership value decrease.

Kakao founder Kim’s ownership value fell by 1.4 percent due to ongoing controversies about Kakao, resulting in a total value of 3.95 trillion won and a drop in rank to 9th from 7th. SK Chair Chey’s ownership value declined by 7.4 percent, totaling 2.28 trillion won, causing a drop in rank to 12th from 10th. Amorepacific’s Suh also saw a 14.2 percent decrease in ownership value to 2.14 trillion won, falling to 15th place from 9th.

F&F Co. Chairman Kim Chang-soo, SD Biosensor Inc. founder Cho Young-sik, and NCsoft Corp. President Kim Taek-jin were excluded from the top 20 list as their ownership values declined.

Kim Taek-jin’s decrease in ownership value is linked to the waning investor interest in the gaming industry, notably affected by the declining popularity of NCsoft’s leading game series, “Lineage.”