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| SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks to newly appointed executives during the 2023 Conversation with New Executives held at the Grand Walkerhill hotel in Seoul on Feb. 3. Courtesy of SK Group |
By Kim Hyun-bin
SK Group has more than 200 subsidiaries, the largest number among 76 top conglomerates with assets of over 5 trillion won, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Monday.
The number of SK subsidiaries stood at 201 as of Feb. 1, an increase of six from last Nov. 1. This is the first time that the number of subsidiaries of a specific conglomerate has exceeded 200 since the introduction of the conglomerate designation system in 1987.
Under the Fair Trade Act, companies belonging to the same business group are regarded as affiliates. The fact that there are 201 SK affiliates means that there are 201 companies that are deemed to have the same person in charge, in this case SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
SK's subsidiaries include SK hynix, SK Energy, SK Telecom, SK Eco Plant, SK Gas, and SK Siltron. SK affiliates increased from 75 in 2010 to 82 in 2015 and 125 in 2020. Over the past three years, the number of affiliates has soared to 148 in 2021, 186 in 2022, and 201 in 2023.
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| SK Seorin building in Seoul / Korea Times file |
"As the number of acquisitions and establishment of joint ventures increased to foster future new businesses, the number of affiliates naturally increased," a SK Group official said.
Following SK, Kakao ranked second with 126 affiliates and GS ranked third with 96. The total number of subsidiaries belonging to 76 conglomerates stood at 2,882, and the average number of affiliates per business group was 38.
Samsung affiliates decreased by one from 64 to 63 during the same period.
As of May 1 last year, Samsung's total assets stood at 483.9 trillion won ($380 billion), about 1.7 times that of second-ranked SK with 292 trillion won.
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