Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong has topped Forbes’ list of Korea’s 50 Richest for the first time.
Forbes revealed on April 17 that Lee ranked first in this year’s list, with his assets increasing by $3.5 billion, bringing his total net worth to $11.5 billion (about 15.81 trillion won). The U.S. magazine attributed this increase to a rise in Samsung’s stock prices, following news that the company is developing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence computing for Nvidia.
Last year’s richest, Kim Byung-ju, chairman of MBK Partners, came in second this year with assets worth $9.7 billion.
The third place went to Seo Jung-jin, honorary chairman of Celltrion, with assets of $7.5 billion. Cho Jung-ho, chairman of Meritz Financial Group, ranked fourth with $6.2 billion, and Chung Mong-koo, honorary chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, was fifth with $4.6 billion.
From sixth to 10th places were Kim Beom-su, chairman of Kakao ($4.5 billion), Hong Ra-hee, former director of Leeum Museum of Art ($4.4 billion), Kwak Dong-shin, vice chairman of Hanmi Semiconductor ($3.9 billion), Kwon Hyuk-bin, chief visionary officer at Smilegate ($3.5 billion), and Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group ($3.4 billion).
This article was originally published on April 18, 2024.
