This file photo shows the buildings of South Korea’s major companies in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of shares held by South Korea’s 33 major business group chiefs tumbled nearly 30 percent in 2022 amid a bearish stock market, a corporate tracker said Tuesday.
The business tycoons held stocks worth a combined 45.9 trillion won (US$35.9 billion) as of the end of December 2022, down 29 percent, or 18.7 trillion won, from the start of the year, according to a survey by the Korea CXO Institute.
The survey covered the heads of local conglomerates whose stock holdings were worth 1 trillion won or higher.
Five conglomerate heads saw the value of their stock holdings shrink by more than 1 trillion won over the cited period.
Kim Beom-su, founder of internet giant Kakao, suffered the biggest decline, with the value of his share holdings plunging 53.7 percent to 5.7 trillion won.
Samsung Group chief Lee Jae-yong, who is chairman of group flagship Samsung Electronics Co., saw his stock holdings sinking 17.7 percent to 11.7 trillion won.
The value of shares held by Seo Jung-jin, honorary chairman of biopharmaceutical giant Celltrion, sank 21.4 percent, or some 2.2 trillion won.
Of the 33 business group heads, 28 saw the value of their stock holdings decline during the period, with five enjoying increases.
As of end-December, 11 conglomerate chiefs owned stocks worth 1 trillion or more. Samsung’s Lee topped the stock-rich list, followed by Seo and Kim.
Stung by global monetary tightening and economic recession woes, the South Korean stock market ended the year 2022 sharply down, marking the first annual loss in four years.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,236.40 points on Thursday, down 24.9 percent from 2,988.77 points on Jan. 3 last year.
(Yonhap)
