Chung Eui-sun becomes third-richest stockholder

The vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Co. Chung Eui-sun is now the third wealthiest stockholder in the country after Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee and Chung Mong-koo, his father and chairman of Hyundai Motor, a report showed Monday.

The heir apparent of the country's biggest automotive group owns shares worth 2.85 trillion won, up 682.8 billion won from the 2.17 trillion won tallied in the first quarter of this year, according to chaebul.com, an online research firm providing information on Korean conglomerates.

The website said stocks owned by the younger Chung swelled, with brisk sales of Hyundai cars in the global market this year, placing him third. A tally carried out in January had him at fifth.

Chung Eui-sun

Lee retained the top spot even after losses worth 590.4 billion of shares in the past three quarters, making his current stock portfolio worth 8.67 trillion won. Chung Mong-koo was the second richest in terms of stock holdings with 6.3 trillion won worth shares, down about 270 billion after donations to the group's social contribution arm Haevichi Foundation earlier this year.

The fourth place went to SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won whose ranking shot up from the eighth spot after his shares in SK & C jumped a whopping 49.6 percent this year, making his assets worth 2.5 trillion won.

Former ruling Grand National Party chairman Chung Mong-joon slipped to the fifth from third, partly due to losses in his holdings of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. where prices fell nearly 44 percent from January after its third quarter profits declined more than 20 percent from a year ago.

By Cynthia J. Kim ( cynthiak@heraldm.com)