Lotte chairman Shin paid most among chaebol CEOs in Korea in H1

(From left) Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and Park Sung-woo, vice chairman of SK hynix. [Photo by MK DB]

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin ranked the highest-paid CEO among owners of South Korea’s family-controlled conglomerates dubbed chaebols, and SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Sung-wook ranked top among professional executives during the first half of 2022.

Shin received 10.29 billion won ($7.8 million) from six Lotte Group affiliates, including 4.25 billion won from holding entity Lotte and 1.9 billion won from Lotte Chemical, during the January-June period, becoming the highest-paid CEOs among owners of conglomerates run by founding family.

Next came LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo with 7.1 billion won, including 4.85 billion won in incentives, followed by NCSoft Founder and CEO Kim Taek-jin with 5.8 billion won, Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-yeon with 5.4 billion won, and GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo with 5.37 billion won.

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun earned 4.97 billion won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun 3.25 billion won, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won 1.75 billion won only from SK, not from SK hynix.

Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and de facto head of Samsung Group has not received any salary since 2017.

Kakao’s former co-CEOs Yeo Min-soo and Cho Soo-yong.

Among the professional CEOs and executives who are not a member of founding family, Park Sung-wook, vice chairman of memory chip giant SK hynix earned the most. He received 9.6 billion won including 8.4 billion won profit earned from exercising stock options. Lee Seok-hee, former CEO of SK hynix who moved as executive chairman of Solidigm in March, received 8.4 billion won including incentives and severance pay. Park Jung-ho, vice chairman of SK Telecom and chief executive and vice chairman of both SK hynix and SK Square, earned 8.76 billion won.

At Samsung Electronics, former CEO Kim Ki-nam, chairman of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, earned the most with 3.3 billion won. LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan earned 1.0 billion won.

In the internet industry, Kakao’s former co-CEOs Cho Soo-yong and Yeo Min-soo earned 36.1 billion won and 33.2 billion won, respectively, from severance pay and exercising stock options.

At Naver, Han Seong-sook who stepped down as CEO to lead operations in Europe, received 2.1 billion won. Current CEO Choi Soo-yeon earned 799 million won.

The most-paid CEO in the gaming industry was Wemade CEO Chang Hyun-guk with 8.6 billion won including 8.1 billion won incentives.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]