Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
HYBE chairman ranks 6th in equity holdings among conglomerate leaders
HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk is awarded the Clive Davis Visionary Award at the Billboard Power 100 event, Feb. 2. Courtesy of Billboard
By Anna J. Park
HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk has emerged as the sixth wealthiest among Korea's major conglomerate leaders based on total stock holdings. Bang's equity holdings surpass those of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
According to the Korea CXO Research Institute, which analyzed the total shareholdings of major conglomerate group leaders, Lee Jae-yong, the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics, ranked at the top of the list with approximately 15.9 trillion won ($11.8 billion) worth of shares. This analysis specifically focused on the leaders of 88 large corporations with assets totaling over 5 trillion won. The valuation of their shareholdings was assessed as of Tuesday.
Seo Jung-jin, co-founder and chairman of Celltrion, ranked second with 11.04 trillion won worth of shares. Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Chung Euisun, and Amorepacific Group Chairman Suh Kyung-bae rounded out the top five list, holding shares worth 4.9 trillion won, 4.01 trillion won and 2.6 trillion won, respectively.
Bang's total stock holdings totaled 2.5 trillion won. Earlier this week, the K-pop powerhouse became the first entertainment company in Korea to be legally designated as a conglomerate subject to tighter antitrust regulations. Consequently, the chairman's name was included for the first time on a list of major conglomerate leaders' wealth derived from total shareholdings.
EcoPro founder Lee Dong-chae, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu, and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo also made the top 10 list, each with shareholdings exceeding 2 trillion won.
"Half of the top 10 leaders in terms of total shareholdings in major conglomerates are categorized as self-made wealthy individuals, as they are founders who built their groups from scratch," the Korea CXO Research Institute explained.