SK Telecom to Pay Bonuses in Company Shares... 10% Additional Stock Value Granted After One Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] SK Telecom will pay performance bonuses for last year's management results in company shares instead of cash. This decision strongly reflects the will of the management, including Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho, who prioritized 'enhancing corporate value.'

According to SK Telecom on the 6th, the company announced details regarding employee performance bonuses in the afternoon. Employees can choose the amount of company shares to be paid instead of cash in units of 10 shares within the performance bonus range. All decisions in this process are voluntary, not mandatory. However, SK Telecom plans to increase employees' shareholding ratio by additionally paying 10% of the stock value after one year.

It is considered very unusual for a major domestic company to give performance bonuses in company shares to all employees, not just executives. This is interpreted as a decision to enhance corporate value. Since the stock price has rarely risen above the 200,000 KRW range after the stock split, it has been one of SK Telecom's concerns. The management believes that being tied to the traditional 'telecommunications' industry, which faces heavy network investment burdens and regulatory impacts, has prevented the company from being properly evaluated in the market as a leading 'Digital New Deal' company.

Especially, SK Telecom, tasked with restructuring the group’s governance such as transitioning to an intermediate holding company, has been practically mobilizing all means to raise corporate value since last year. Following the announcement of a 500 billion KRW share buyback plan last year, SK Telecom is also accelerating the IPOs of subsidiaries such as One Store. The strategy is to increase corporate value through subsidiary IPOs. After One Store, ADT Caps, 11st, SK Broadband, and others are also lined up for IPOs.

Vice Chairman Park and the management also expect that paying performance bonuses in company shares will strengthen employees' sense of belonging. Some have even mentioned the possibility of making this an annual regular practice. Based on the closing price on this day, SK Telecom’s stock price is 250,500 KRW per share.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.