South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group’s Lee family has topped the wealthiest family list in Asia for the second straight year, according to Forbes’ ranking.
The nation’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor’s Chung family was 12th.
The Lee family had a combined wealth of $29.6 billion in 2016, up by $3 billion from 2015, the American business magazine said.
Samsung Group, founded by the late Lee Byung-chul as a small trading company in 1938, has grown into the world’s largest smartphone and TV maker.
The late founder Lee’s family and his cousins are running businesses including Samsung, CJ, Shinsegae and Hansol groups -- which originated from Samsung -- currently pulling in around $340 billion annually.
Hyundai’s Chung family has combined assets of $14.5 billion, as of this year, Forbes said.
Half of the family’s assets now belong to Hyundai Motor Group’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his son Chung Eui-sun, it said.
Hyundai, which was founded by the late Chung Ju-yung in the 1940s, has grown into one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. Since the group was split into auto, heavy industry and chemistry companies in 2000, they have been run by siblings of the late Chung.
Forbes said the combined wealth of Asia’s 50 richest families stood at $519 billion last year and among them, 41 families saw their assets rise.
By Shin Ji-hye (
shinjh@heraldcorp.com)
