[SUPER RICH] Doosan heir Park Seo-won steps into spotlight

Doosan Group heir Park Seo-won has finally emerged as a likely successor of the country’s 14th-largest business conglomerate, having recently joined the company’s most important project in years. The group said that Park was appointed to senior vice president of Doosan Corporation on Nov. 23, and will overlook marketing as well as other strategies of its duty-free operations. Park -- who already leads Doosan’s advertising agency Oricom and independent creative consulting firm Big Ant -- will spl

Dec. 1, 2015

[SUPER RICH] New Silicon Valley stars of Korean descent

The relationship between new start-ups and their venture capital investors is a bit like a marriage: The start-up founder and investors hold a contractual ceremony, then need to uphold the terms and conditions and coexist together.In the tech sector, especially in Silicon Valley in California, many successful start-ups are the results of such unions between start-up founders and venture capital investors of Korean descent. This coexistence has resulted in the birth of a new breed of superrich.A

Nov. 24, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Aekyung Group gains big as Jeju Air goes public

Aekyung Group’s low-cost carrier Jeju Air went public on Nov. 6, 10 years after its establishment, increasing the assets of the the midsize retailer and household goods conglomerate’s controlling family.Jeju Air debuted on the nation’s main bourse KOSPI at 48,100 won ($41.16) per share.Affiliates of Aekyung Group own a combined stake of 67.5 percent in Jeju Air -- with AK Holdings having 57.2 percent and Aekyung Co. 10.26 percent.As regards AK Holdings, group family members and its affiliates co

Nov. 17, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Pharma king shakes up superrich rankings

There is a new entrant in the ranks of Korean superrich.Hanmi Pharmaceutical founder and chairman Lim Sung-ki became a prominent superrich as the company signed licensing agreements with several global pharmaceutical companies this year, including Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceutica and France-based Sanofi.The multibillion-dollar licensing agreements caused the shares of Hanmi Pharmaceutical and its parent company Hanmi Science to skyrocket. Stocks of Hanmi Pharmaceutical closed at 755,000 won (

Nov. 17, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Shinsegae chairwoman caught with borrowed-name stocks again

Shinsegae chairwoman Lee Myung-hee Shinsegae vice chairman Chung Yong-jinShinsegae Group, the country’s second-largest retailer, declared Friday its founder and chairwoman Lee Myung-hee owned 380,000 company shares worth around 80 billion won ($69 million) under borrowed names and that she would convert them to her own name on the day.  The problematic stocks were 258,449 shares of large discount store chain E-mart, 91,296 shares of Shinsegae and 29,938 shares of Shinsegae Food, which were techn

Nov. 10, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Celebrities running natural product businesses

What do Gwyneth Paltrow, Gisele Bundchen and Madonna have in common?They are celebrities involved in natural product businesses, having become major shareholders in or founding their own companies. Their businesses range from natural foods and snacks to baby products and skin care.The Superrich team presents several world-famous celebrities working as natural lifestyle ambassadors.Jessica Alba Jessica Alba.     BloombergHollywood star Jessica Alba is also known for cofounding The Honest Company,

Nov. 10, 2015

[SUPER RICH] What if the superrich gave their wealth to the poor?

What would happen if the richest families in every country gave all their wealth to the poor? It’s a far-fetched question, but one that has come up. There is even a measurement for it: the Hoover index -- commonly known as the Robin Hood index -- measures the amount of income inequality in a country by hypothetically distributing the wealth of the rich to the poor.To see how this applies in Asian countries with significant wealth inequality, the Superrich Team applied the Robin Hood index for se

Nov. 3, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Korea’s respected rich entrepreneurs

The general public is more positive toward the superrich company founders rather than the chaebol heirs in Korea. There is also much less recognition for up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the Internet age and negative attitudes towards the corrupt billionaires have persisted, a recent survey by the Superrich Team found .The survey on “Korean superrich the public respects” was conducted from Sept. 7-21 among 227 respondents. The team would like to clarify that the word “respect” may not necessarily

Oct. 27, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Criteria for respected superrich evolves

Korean entrepreneurs in the past were highly regarded as role models of success -- responsible for the nation’s rapid economic growth and a rising middle class -- but today they receive both praise and criticism.As Korean society developed, they were also criticized for causing social inequality such as unequal wealth distribution and passing down of wealth. No longer are the superrich given respect simply because they have accumulated riches.Nevertheless, there are billionaire entrepreneurs who

Oct. 27, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Hong Kong’s young billionaire dreams of democratizing art

“Democratizing art” is the aspiration of the 35-year-old Hong Kong business entrepreneur and art collector Adrian Cheng.The Superrich team met Cheng in August at the Gana Art Gallery at Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul, for his first standalone interview with a Korean daily.Adrian Cheng is the third-generation executive of Hong Kong’s New World Group, which owns real estate company New World Development, jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook, as well as department stores, shopping malls, duty-free stores, hotel

Oct. 6, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Superrich who help refugees

Refugees from Africa and the Middle East have been crossing the Mediterranean by boat to escape war and oppression in their home countries, with many risking death in the process, as boats sink in rough waters.According to the International Organization for Migration, around 350,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean and landed in Europe this year, and around 2,640 people have died during the journey.In response, several billionaires have stepped in to help the refugees and ease the situati

Sept. 15, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Doosan head eyes retail business

Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-maan, who openly sought to reshape his company’s portfolio with more focus on heavy industries, appears to have had a rethink -- going back to retail-- as the company announced plans to bid for the lucrative urban duty-free store operations.The country’s 13th-largest business conglomerate said that its main affiliate Doosan Corp. will seek to apply for a special license to run an urban duty-free store in Seoul on the due date of Sept. 25. The bid winner will be an

Sept. 8, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Superrich who spent money for independence and the people

There is a zeitgeist in every time period. In Korea, the zeitgeist during the Japanese occupation was independence, and after independence it was to live well and reunite the two Koreas.Koreans typically hold in high regard those who have dedicated themselves to one of these causes. They realize that although such ideals are easily relatable, it is more difficult to perfectly ascribe to them.Several of the superrich have also devoted their lives to these causes, donating their riches to realize

Sept. 8, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Business tycoons shun payroll disclosure

More and more high-level “registered” executives at business conglomerates are resigning from their official positions at corporate affiliates, apparently fearing a public backlash following the disclosure of their salaries. Registered executives have the legal power to participate in the overall management of the companies while unregistered executives have less power in the boardroom.According to Chaebul.com, a website devoted to tracing the wealth of the superrich, among the country’s top 30

Sept. 1, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Son’s bold investments create new superrich

Masayoshi Son (also known as Son Jeong-ui), chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., is well known among the superrich. Forbes ranked him as the 75th richest person in the world with assets of $13.8 billion, making him the second-richest person in Japan.Son is seen as more than a telecommunications billionaire, however. He is also well known as an investor with incredible acumen.He has been known to financially invest in young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs and also act as their business mentor.

Sept. 1, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Trump’s rise draws attention in Korea

When Donald Trump, the real estate developer and host of reality TV show “The Apprentice,” announced that he was running for the 2016 presidential election, voters initially regarded it as nothing more than a publicity stunt.But despite controversial remarks during the campaign, he has soared in the polls in a crowded field of over a dozen candidates to win more than 20 percent support in less than two months. Trump’s rise and his comments have caught the attention of both American and Korean ci

Aug. 25, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Lee Maeng-hee’s death brings Samsung family together

The “pan-Samsung founding family” gathered at the memorial altar of the late honorary chairman of CJ Group, Lee Maeng-hee, who died last week of lung cancer in China. It was a rare scene of public togetherness for the media-reclusive Lee clan, who have been reported to be rather distant from each other. Some business insiders suggest that the funeral of the eldest of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull’s offspring could be an icebreaker for the family, which runs some of the country’s largest busine

Aug. 18, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Wage gap between CEOs, employees in America and Korea

The wage gap between company chief executives and employees is becoming a hot-button topic, with the huge disparity continuing to widen. The salary structures in the United States and Korea show different reward systems for CEOs.At the same time, there has been a heated debate in the U.S. in recent years whether the astronomical remuneration paid to CEOs is appropriate. A CNN article published in August reported that Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon received $19.4 million in rewards last year, while t

Aug. 18, 2015

[SUPER RICH] Saga of ‘strife of princes’ runs deep at Korean conglomerates

The fraternal feud surrounding the managerial rights of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group has made the headlines of every media outlet here for the past week. But this is not the first time the second or third generation of business tycoons have held blood-spat competition over the helm of a business empire. According to Chaebul.com, 18 of the country’s top 40 family-controlled South Korean conglomerates, better known as chaebol, have or are experiencing fraternal disputes in the generationa

Aug. 4, 2015