Thanks to Shareholdings Left by Late Chairman
The Samsung Group founder family’s stake in the group considerably increased after the death of chairman Lee Kun-hee in October last year. Specifically, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong’s stake in Samsung Electronics more than doubled from 0.62 percent to 1.44 percent until May this year and Hong Ra-hee, the wife of the late chairman, has become the largest shareholder in Samsung Electronics with 2.02 percent.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission announced on Sept. 1 that the vice chairman owned 45.42 billion won out of the total capital (9,991.159 billion won) of the 59 listed and unlisted subsidiaries of the group as of May 1 this year. The ratio is 0.46 percent, up 0.19 percentage points from a year ago.
As of that date, the vice chairman was the largest individual shareholder in Samsung Life Insurance with 10.44 percent. Before the chairman’s death, the vice chairman’s stake in Samsung Life Insurance was 0.06 percent. The insurance company owned 7.48 percent of Samsung Electronics on May 1. In Samsung C&T, which governs the insurance company in the group, the vice chairman’s stake rose from 17.33 percent to 17.97 percent.
The wife’s stake rose from 0.8 percent to 2.02 percent in Samsung Electronics and rose from 0 percent to 0.96 percent in Samsung C&T.
Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin’s stake increased from 5.55 percent to 6.19 percent in Samsung C&T, from 0 percent to 6.92 percent in Samsung Life Insurance, and from 0 percent to 0.82 percent in Samsung Electronics. Samsung Welfare Foundation director Lee Seo-hyun’s increased from 5.55 percent to 6.19 percent, from 0 percent to 3.46 percent, and from 0 percent to 0.82 percent, respectively. As a result, the family’s stake in Samsung Group rose from 0.94 percent to 0.96 percent.
In the meantime, the same stake in the top 10 South Korean conglomerates was 2.4 percent on average as of May 1. The figure was 3 percent in 2013 and continued to decrease to reach the lowest level that date. On the other hand, their inside ownership increased from 45.9 percent to 57.7 percent from 2002 to 2020. The inside ownership is the total shareholdings of owner family members, executives and subsidiaries.