Samsung Electronics vice chairman and semiconductor business division chief Kwon Oh-hyun was the highest-paid Korean CEO last year, with total earnings of 14.95 billion won ($13 million).
His pay has soared nearly 60 percent over the past year, largely driven by the chip division’s robust sales. The division posted a record 12.79 trillion won in operating profits last year.
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Samsung Electronics vice chairman and semiconductor business division chief Kwon Oh-hyun speaks at a shareholders meeting on March 11. (Yonhap) |
Fellow Samsung CEO Shin Jong-kyun, who topped the pay ranking in 2014, fell to second as his compensation was cut in half to 4.79 billion won due to the company’s sluggish smartphone sales.
In December, he stepped back from the mobile business division’s daily operations to focus more on new growth engine businesses.
The Samsung CEOs’ pay packages indicate that executive compensation at the nation’s top conglomerates is more tied to performance than before.
According to their regulatory filings to the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday, many companies reduced CEO pay for 2015 compared to a year ago. The shipbuilding and heavy industries, in particular, suffered severe cuts.
LG Household and Health Care CEO Cha Suk-young, the longest-serving CEO at LG Group, saw his pay double to 2.15 billion won last year, during which the company’s market value surged 70 percent to 16.4 trillion won.
In the shipbuilding industry, no CEO took home more than 500 million won, a pay limit for registered board members to disclose their compensation package in a regulatory filing. The industry reported an estimated combined loss of 8 trillion won last year, though the 5.4 trillion won estimate for Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Industry is currently in dispute.
The pay for owner family members was rarely disclosed as many of them were not registered as board members.
Of the nation’s top 10 conglomerates, only five family heads -- Hyundai Motor Group’s Chung Mong-koo, LG Group’s Koo Bon-moo, Lotte Group’s Shin Dong-bin, GS Group’s Huh Chang-soo and Hanjin Group’s Cho Yan-ho -- disclosed their pay.
Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, together with his younger sister and fashion business division president of Samsung C&T Lee Seo-hyun, is not registered as a board member. Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin, who was paid 2.03 billion won last year, was the only one of chairman Lee Kun-hee’s three children to disclose her pay. The chairman has been hospitalized since May 2014.
Hyundai Motor chief Chung was the highest-paid owner family member. He received 9.8 billion won, including 5.6 billion won at Hyundai Motor and 4.2 billion won at Hyundai Mobis, the car parts unit. His pay fell from 21.57 billion won in 2014 as he retired from the board of Hyundai Steel, the steelmaking unit. His son and Hyundai Motor vice chairman Chung Eui-sun was paid a combined 2.47 billion won last year, 1.87 billion won at Hyundai and 600 million won at Hyundai Mobis.
LG Group’s Koo received 5.34 billion won at LG Corp., while his younger brother and vice chairman Koo Bon-joon who was relocated to lead the group’s next growth engine businesses last year received 1.93 billion won at LG Electronics.
Amid the family feud over the group’s control, the value of Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho’s pay was 4.1 billion won. Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s pay increased to 5.8 billion won, while his younger brother and former vice chairman of Lotte Holdings in Japan was paid with 2.06 billion won.
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
