Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. have surpassed Samsung Electronics in charitable donations so far this year. (Image courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group)
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Thanks to record-breaking earnings, Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. have surpassed Samsung Electronics in charitable donations so far this year, marking a historic first.
According to CEO Score, which monitors corporate management activities, a total of 264 out of the country’s top 500 firms by sales collectively donated 1.4 trillion won to charities from January to September, reflecting a 25.1 percent increase from last year.
Their cumulative operating profits for the first nine months of this year totaled 93.4 trillion won, down 31.3 percent year on year, with their combined sales estimated at 1.8 quadrillion won, down 4.5 percent year on year.
Despite the sluggish financial results caused by the global economic slump, most of the nation’s major companies increased their contributions to charity compared to a year ago.
Among the companies, Hyundai and Kia posted the most significant increase in their donations. Hyundai’s charitable donations in the first three quarters amounted to 136.2 billion won, marking an almost 180 percent increase from the same period last year. Similarly, Kia’s donations soared by 365.9 percent to 73.6 billion won.
The combined donations by Hyundai and Kia increased by 145.4 billion won year on year to 209.9 billion won. This surge in combined donations can be attributed to their record-breaking performance. Hyundai’s operating profit for the first nine months of this year jumped by 80.4 percent year on year to 11.7 trillion won, while Kia enjoyed 98.4 percent growth, with a profit of 9.1 trillion won.
Hana Bank increased this year’s donations by 53.6 billion won, while HMM, the Korea Electric Power Corporation, Ssangyong C&E, SK Energy, LG Household & Health Care, Korean Air, and KT also increased their donations.
In contrast, donations by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell by 19.4 percent and 27.3 percent to 179.6 billion won and 41.6 billion won, respectively, as their financial results worsened this year due to the slowdown of the global semiconductor market.
The company that reduced donations the most was Kyobo Life, with cumulative donations for the first nine months of this year standing at 1.6 billion won, down 96.5 percent from 45.5 billion won a year ago.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
