Samsung CEOs paid highest
By Kim Jae-won
Chief executive officers (CEOs) from the Samsung group of companies earned the most money among Korean business executives last year based on income from salary, dividends and stock option sales, according to an online market watcher.
The average CEO of a top-100 Korean company earned 1.7 billion won (about $1.6 million) last year, Chaebul.com said, which was equivalent to about 11 percent of what the top-100 American CEOs earned in 2010 based on data from business magazine, Forbes.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Yoon-woo topped the earnings list by reaping 42 billion won (about $40 million) in 2010. Lee gained 35.9 billion won after selling 56,000 stock options and 100 million won in dividend payments from his company shares on top of an annual salary of 6 billion won.
Chabul.com said that Lee may have pocketed more than 25 billion won of net income after paying taxes. The tax authorities levy 35 percent income tax on earnings exceeding 88 million won a year.
No. 2 on the list was Lee’s colleague Choi Gee-sung, head of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor and liquid crystal display (LCD) division, who earned 13 billion won. About two-thirds of the income came from selling 20,000 stock options.
Samsung Electronics chief financial officer (CFO) Yoon Ju-hwa finished third after earning 7.1 billion won, while Jung Yeon-joo, head of Samsung C&T, the conglomerate’s construction and trading unit, was fourth at 3.4 billion won.
Chabul.com said many Samsung executives sold their stock options, which they were given between 2000 and 2001, last year ahead of the expiration date. Rising stock prices of Samsung Electronics also pushed them to sell, it added.
Among foreign CEOs here, Larry Klane of Korea Exchange Bank, earned the highest income of 610 million won, followed by S-Oil’s Ahmed Subaey and Richard Hill of SC First Bank, who earned 350 million won and 330 million won, respectively.
Compared to Korean executives whose salaries accounted for about 72 percent of their total earnings, U.S. CEOs earned most of their money through stock options and dividend earnings, it added.