Making it on this year’s exclusive 2016 Forbes billionaire list, 31 out of 1,810 billionaires are Korean.

Of the 31 selected billionaires, 17 are the largest shareholders or owners of listed chaebol -- Korean family-controlled conglomerates -- who will in total receive at least 538.6 billion won ($452.7 million) in company cash dividends this year, averaging some 31.7 billion won per person.

Although Korean companies are known to be stingy when it comes to distributing company earnings to shareholders, there are a few who enjoy the happiness of dividends. The relatives of the 17 owners are among the few privileged to be included.

Although not all are listed on the Forbes’ billionaire list, 125 family members of 14 chaebol will receive company dividends totaling 129.6 billion won.

Of the family members who are large shareholders of chaebol, 26 are entitled to cash dividends of over a billion won each. The total amount to be given is estimated at 115 billion won, which is around 88.6 percent of the total listed amount to be earned by the relatives of the 31 Korean billionaires.

Receiving the largest dividend is SK Happiness Foundation chief director Choi Ki-won from SK Group. As the younger sibling of SK chairman Chey Tae-won, she holds 5.25 million shares, or 7.46 percent, of SK, which will earn her 17.85 billion won. 


The next four highest-earning dividend chaebol family members come from LG Group, with 16 of the 26 family members entitled to earn over a billion won this year. They include LG chairman Koo Bon-moo’s wife, son and siblings.

Coming in second place, chairman Koo’s younger brother LG vice chairman Koo Bon-joon will receive 17.3 billion won from his stake in the company of 7.72 percent.

In third place, the chairman‘s son Koo Kwang-mo, who is LG vice president, will receive a total of 13.7 billion won, with 13.5 billion won from LG and 163 million won from LG International.

Chairman Koo’s youngest brother Heesung Group vice chairman Koo Bon-sik ranks in fourth, set to receive 10.1 billion won from LG and LG International, and in fifth place, chairman Koo’s wife Kim Young-shik is entitled to a total of 9.7 billion won for her stake of 4.3 percent at LG worth 9.65 billion won.

Next in line comes the chaebol family of BGF retail chairman Hong Seok-jo.
Hong’s older brother JoongAng Media Network chairman Hong Seok-hyun holds 1.76 million shares of BGF retail and will earn 2.1 billion won. Meanwhile, deputy director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Hong Ra-young also will collect 1.9 billion won, and Hong’s brother Bokwang Investment chairman Hong Seok-joon will gain 1.5 billion won. 


Of the 14 chaebol represented by the billionaires selected on the Forbes 2016 list, LG Group has the most family members holding heavy shareholder status, with 42 members, and will thus distribute the largest amount. The LG Group family members will gain a total of 79.5 billion won, which is over 60 percent of the wealth to be earned by the 31 billionaire relatives.

SK Group will allocate the second-highest dividend payments to seven family members, including SK Happiness Foundation chief director Choi Ki-won, totaling up to 18 billion won.

The company with the second-largest number of dividend payments to family members but third in amount of dividends is Hanmi Pharmaceutical at 22 family members. The 22 family members of Hanmi Pharmaceuticals hold shares in Hanmi Science which will earn them 10.8 billion won, while eight of the 22 family members who are still underage will earn 2.1 billion won. 

Meanwhile, eight family members of BGF retail, two of Shinsegae and three of Orion will have dividends of 6.21 billion won, 5.33 billion won and 5 billion won, respectively.

Within the Forbes billionaire list, a few relatives of chaebol are included, with their dividends worth over 43.7 billion won.

Of these, the director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Hong Ra-hee has the highest dividends. As the older sister of BGF retail chairman Hong Seok-jo and wife of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, Hong Ra-hee holds over 1 million Samsung Electronic shares, or 0.74 percent, earning her 21.7 billion won. She currently has a personal net worth of 1.2 trillion won, which ranks her No. 31 on the country’s rich list.

Ranking No. 24 on the country’s rich list, SDJ Corporation chairman Shin Dong-joo has the next highest dividends. As the older brother of Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, he has a 13.45 percent stake in Lotte Shopping and 1.96 percent stake in Lotte Food, which earns him 8.5 billion won and 130 million won, respectively, giving him a total of 8.6 billion won.

Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin and president of the fashion division of Samsung C&T Lee Seo-hyun are the largest shareholders of Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS, earning them each 6.7 billion won.

By The Korea Herald Superrich Team (seoyounglee@heraldcorp.com)
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Hong Seung-wan
Cheon Ye-seon
Seo Jee-yeon
Yoon Hyun-jong
Min Sang-seek
Lee Seo-young