Leading this list of non-owning stock millionaires are executives from Krafton, the company behind the global hit game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.” (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent study has revealed that 27 non-owning executives of South Korean companies with market capitalizations exceeding 2 trillion won hold stock wealth valued at over 10 billion won each, highlighting a growing trend of wealth accumulation among professional managers in the country’s booming tech sector.
The Korea CXO Institute, a corporate analysis firm, examined stock holdings of non-owner executives and shareholders in 149 companies as of September 6.
The study found that 165 executives possessed stock wealth exceeding 1 billion won, with 27 of them crossing the 10 billion won threshold, up from 22 in August last year.
Leading this list of non-owning stock millionaires are executives from Krafton, the company behind the global hit game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.”
Kim Jung-hoon, CEO of Krafton subsidiary Rising Wings, tops the list with stock holdings valued at 272.3 billion won, more than doubling from last year’s 130.7 billion won.
This surge is largely attributed to Krafton’s stock price jumping 108.3% over the past year.
Krafton’s CEO, Kim Changhan, ranks second with stock wealth of 177.1 billion won. The company’s success has created four executives with stock holdings exceeding 10 billion won.
The tech sector’s dominance in creating wealthy executives is further exemplified by Lee Jung-ho, CEO of Rainbow Robotics, a company partially owned by Samsung Electronics. Lee’s stock wealth is valued at 173.1 billion won, placing him third on the list.
Notably, seven of the 27 executives with stock wealth over 10 billion won belong to the Millennial and Gen Z cohort, born after 1980.
This includes Scooter Braun, an inside director at HYBE (the company behind K-pop sensation BTS), and Heo Jung-woo, a technical director at Rainbow Robotics.
In contrast, executives from traditional industrial giants like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix hold comparatively modest stock wealth.
At Samsung Electronics, president Park Hark-kyu leads with stock holdings worth 1.9 billion won, while at SK Hynix, vice chairman Park Jung-ho’s holdings are valued at 3.4 billion won.
Oh Il-sun, head of the Korea CXO Institute, noted, “A distinctive trend is the emergence of new stock millionaires in their 30s and 40s, particularly in the gaming industry.”
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
