Nearly 400 non-owner executives at South Korea’s four largest business groups hold more than $750,000 worth of company stock, with more than 90% of them working at Samsung Electronics or SK hynix.
As of Aug. 31, 398 executives at listed affiliates of Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG held shares worth more than 1 billion won, or roughly $750,000. Their combined holdings were valued at about 1.05 trillion won, or $790 million, based on stock prices as of Aug. 24.
The concentration is striking. Samsung accounted for 269 executives, or 67.6% of the total, while SK accounted for another 122, or 30.7%. Together, the two groups represented 98.2% of all non-owner executives whose stock holdings exceeded the threshold.
Hyundai Motor had four such executives, while LG had three.
The disparity largely reflects differences in executive compensation. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have used company shares as part of performance-based compensation, increasing the number of shares held by executives even as stock prices have weakened.
Samsung Electronics alone accounted for 256 executives, or 64.3% of the total. SK hynix followed with 107, or 26.9%. Combined, the two companies represented 363 executives, or 91.2% of the entire group.
The increase is particularly notable because the number of executives crossing the $750,000 threshold rose even as both companies’ shares declined.
At Samsung Electronics, the number increased to 256 from 170 on May 13, a 50.6% jump. At SK hynix, it rose to 107 from 88, an increase of 21.6%.
Together, the number of executives at the two companies with stock holdings above the threshold increased 40.7% over the period.
The increase wasn’t driven by higher share prices. Samsung Electronics shares fell about 9.5% during the period, while SK hynix shares declined 15.4%.
Instead, the increase appears to have been driven largely by additional shares awarded through executive compensation programs, pushing more executives above the $750,000 threshold despite falling stock prices.
At the higher end of the wealth scale, 12 non-owner executives held stock worth more than $7.5 million. Six were affiliated with Samsung, five with SK and one with Hyundai Motor. No LG executive reached that level.
The largest disclosed holding belonged to Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon, who owned 124,280 Samsung Electronics shares. Based on the Aug. 24 closing price, his stake was worth about 31.99 billion won, or $24 million.
Roh was the only non-owner executive among the four groups whose publicly disclosed holdings exceeded $22.5 million.
He was followed by SK hynix President Kwak Noh-jung, with holdings worth about 23.9 billion won, or $18 million; SK Square Chief Investment Officer Song Jae-seung, with about 18.3 billion won, or $13.8 million; and Samsung Electronics President Park Hak-kyu, with about 18.1 billion won, or $13.6 million.
Hyundai AutoEver Executive Vice President Seo Dong-kwon ranked fifth, with shares valued at about 16.5 billion won, or $12.4 million.
The figures highlight the growing importance of stock-based compensation at some of South Korea’s largest technology companies. They also illustrate how executive equity wealth can rise even when share prices are falling: a sufficiently large increase in the number of shares awarded can outweigh a decline in the market value of each share.
For companies competing for senior talent, equity compensation can align executives with long-term shareholder value. But the growing concentration of substantial stock holdings among senior executives also makes compensation structures an increasingly visible part of corporate governance in South Korea.
