Although South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was one of the worst performers in Asia last year, it rebounded in 2024 fueled by investor frenzy over AI and the government’s $470 billion plan with the private sector to make the country a global chip production hub. The Kospi’s 11% rise, since we last measured fortunes 12 months ago, lifted the collective net worth of the country’s 50 richest to $115 billion from $106 billion.
This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, annual reports, analysts, government agencies and other sources. Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on April 2, 2024 and private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded. Real-time net worths on Forbes.com may reflect different valuations. The ranking lists both individual and family fortunes, including those shared among relatives and may differ from the World’s Billionaires List, which includes individual fortunes with net worths as of March 8. The list can also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the country, or citizens who don’t reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country. The editors reserve the right to amend any information or remove any listees in light of new information.
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This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, annual reports, analysts, government agencies and other sources. Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on April 2, 2024 and private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded. Real-time net worths on Forbes.com may reflect different valuations. The ranking lists both individual and family fortunes, including those shared among relatives and may differ from the World’s Billionaires List, which includes individual fortunes with net worths as of March 8. The list can also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the country, or citizens who don’t reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country. The editors reserve the right to amend any information or remove any listees in light of new information.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/lists/korea-billionaires/?sh=745f04012222
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Although South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was one of the worst performers in Asia last year,
00:05it rebounded in 2024, fueled by investor frenzy over AI and the government's $470 billion plan
00:13with the private sector to make the country a global chip production hub.
00:18The Kospi's 11% rise since we last measured fortunes 12 months ago lifted the collective
00:23net worth of the country's 50 richest to $115 billion from $106 billion.
00:31There are four returnees to the ranks this year, including Cheng Byung-ju,
00:35founder of online gaming firm Krafton. After falling from a pandemic-induced high,
00:40shares of Krafton rebounded more than 30% in the past year, boosted by the popularity of
00:45the Indian version of its hit video game PUBG Battlegrounds. Eight from last year dropped off,
00:51including former billionaire Chung Yong-ji, whose biotech company Caregen rode the weight-loss wave,
00:57but lost steam as product delays sent its shares into a tailspin.
01:01Here are the top 5 richest billionaires in Korea for 2024.
01:06Number 5. Mangku Chung
01:09Mangku Chung was chairman of Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker,
01:13for more than 20 years before stepping down in March 2020. He was succeeded by his only son,
01:19Eui-soon, who was also a billionaire. He is the second son of the late Chung Ju-young,
01:24who came from a peasant family and later founded the Hyundai Group, once Korea's biggest conglomerate.
01:30Number 4. Cho Jung-ho
01:33Cho Jung-ho is the chairman of Merits Financial Group. He is the youngest of the four sons
01:38of Cho Chung-hoon, the late founder of Hanjin Group, the parent company of Korean Air.
01:43He worked for Korean Airlines in Europe and returned home in 1989
01:47as a director with Hanjin Investment and Securities, as Merits was then named.
01:52Number 3. Seo Jung-jin
01:55Seo Jung-jin is co-founder of Celltrion, a biopharmaceutical firm that makes drugs to
01:59treat cancer, influenza, and rheumatoid arthritis, among others. With the success
02:05of biosimilars in South Korea, Celltrion has become a favorite among investors.
02:10Number 2. Michael Kim
02:12Michael Kim co-founded MBK Partners, the Seoul-based private equity firm that bears
02:17his initials and manages more than $30 billion in assets. His ING Insurance Korea, which went
02:23public in 2017, was the first company wholly owned by a private equity firm to list on the Korean
02:29Exchange. Number 1. JY Lee
02:33JY Lee is the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics and leader of the country's biggest
02:38conglomerate. He was appointed to the role in October 2022, which had been left vacant since
02:43the death of his father in 2020. In 2017, he was jailed for bribing a confidant, a former president
02:50Park Geun-hye, but was released in 2018. In 2021, through a retrial, he was sentenced to two and a
02:56half years in prison, and then received a presidential pardon in 2022. In February 2024,
03:03Lee was acquitted of stock manipulation charges related to a 2015 merger between two Samsung
03:08affiliates that prosecutors said helped Lee cement control of the Samsung conglomerate.
03:14Lee and his family are in the process of paying 12 trillion won, about $8.5 billion,
03:20in inheritance taxes following the 2020 death of patriarch Lee Kun-hee.