Screens at a Hana Bank dealing room show the KOSPI main stock index fell 1.23 percent to end at 2,644.51 on May 6, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Chief executive officers of South Korea’s major listed companies have sold a large amount of their company shares this year amid a bear market, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.
The CEOs of the country’s top 500 firms by market cap sold a combined 227 billion won (US$174 million) worth of shares in their own firms in the January-July period, or 3.2 times the amount of company stocks they purchased, according to CEO Score.
Of the firms’ 705 incumbent CEOs, 468, or 66.4 percent, owned their own company shares as of the end of July. The number was up 24 from the end of last year.
The value of their company stock holdings came to 36.01 trillion won as of end-July, down 16.4 percent from December last year.
The sharp drop came as the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled 17.7 percent over the cited period due to soaring inflation and other negative factors.
During the seven-month period, 69 CEOs purchased 3.44 million shares in their own companies worth 70.9 billion won, according to CEO Score.
(Yonhap)
