Digital CEOs Who Donate... Three Distinct Dimensions

Kim Bong-jin and Kim Beom-su "Donate More Than Half of Their Wealth"... Aiming to Solve Social Issues

Bongjin Kim, Chairman of Woowa Brothers

Kim Bong-jin, chairman of Woowa Brothers, has decided to donate more than half of his wealth to society. Following Kim Beom-su, chairman of Kakao's board, who announced earlier this month that he would donate more than half of his wealth, a series of donation declarations have been made by founders who have built their wealth by creating so-called 'national services' in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Their donations are remarkable not only in scale?'more than half of their wealth'?but also because they explicitly state that the purpose of their donations is to solve social problems, which differs from the donations made by traditional conglomerates. It is also notable that they do not view their companies as personal property and draw a clear line regarding succession of management rights.

According to Woowa Brothers on the 18th, Kim Bong-jin was officially recognized as a pledge signer of 'The Giving Pledge' (hereafter referred to as the Giving Pledge) on that day. The Giving Pledge is a voluntary donation movement that began in 2010 when Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft (MS), and Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, promised to give back their wealth to society. Currently, 218 individuals from 24 countries have declared donations through the Giving Pledge. Members include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Star Wars director George Lucas, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. About 75% of the members started with nothing and built their wealth.

◆Generous Donation of More Than Half of Wealth=Kim, the first Korean to become a Giving Pledge signer, promised to donate more than half of his wealth to society. In 2019, Kim was set to receive a 9.9% stake in Germany's Delivery Hero, which was valued at around 480 billion KRW at the time. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of delivery companies surged, and Kim's wealth is now known to have exceeded 1 trillion KRW. This means he has pledged to donate more than 500 billion KRW.

The donation amount that Kim Beom-su, chairman of Kakao, plans to give is even larger. Currently, Kim holds a 13.74% stake in Kakao, with the stock value reaching about 10 trillion KRW. Even calculating just half of his stock holdings amounts to 5 trillion KRW.

Kim Beom-su, Chairman of Kakao

◆Focus on Solving Social Problems=Both Kim Bong-jin and Kim Beom-su have presented solving social problems through donations as their goal. Kim Bong-jin explained, "I am gradually planning to address issues related to educational inequality, support culture and the arts, and create organizations that help charities perform their work better." Earlier, Kim Beom-su also said, "I have made a commitment to donate more than half of my wealth to solving social problems during my lifetime," adding, "Witnessing the deepening of social problems in various ways during turbulent times, I felt that I could no longer delay this decision." He further explained, "I intend to find and support people to solve social problems in areas that Kakao has difficulty accessing."

◆Blocking Possibility of Corporate Succession=Born in 1966, Kim Beom-su, and born in 1976, Kim Bong-jin, are both young executives in their 50s and mid-40s, respectively. Their declaration to donate half of their wealth at such an active age also signifies drawing a line against succession of management rights to their children. This is a rare occurrence in Korean society, where inheritance of wealth by conglomerate families has been taken for granted. Kim Bong-jin stated, "I am confident that this donation declaration will be the greatest legacy we can give to our children," adding, "My beloved children also agreed with this decision."

Kim Do-hyun, a professor of business administration at Kookmin University, said, "Donating half of one's personal wealth can fundamentally be understood as a resolution not to inherit. It also preemptively blocks the possibility of inheritance itself," adding, "The focus on solving social problems is clear, and the approach to problem-solving will likely unfold in a 'startup-like' manner."

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