Lee Jae-yong inherits half of Lee Kun-hee's Samsung Life shares... Becomes largest individual shareholder

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Samsung Life Insurance announced on the 30th that it will inherit about 20 million shares, half of the shares of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Following the inheritance of Chairman Lee's shares, the largest shareholder of Samsung Life Insurance changed from Chairman Lee to Samsung C&T Corporation, and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong became the largest individual shareholder. The shares of Samsung Electronics held by Chairman Lee were divided among the bereaved family members according to the statutory inheritance ratio.

On the same day, Samsung Life Insurance disclosed a report on changes in the largest shareholder's ownership through the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, stating that 20,879,591 shares out of 41,519,180 shares of Chairman Lee would be inherited by Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, and Lee Seo-hyun, Director of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, inherited 13,839,726 shares and 6,919,863 shares respectively. The ratio is 3:2:1. Chairman Lee's spouse, Hong Ra-hee, was excluded from the inheritance.

With this share inheritance, the largest shareholder of Samsung Life Insurance changed from Chairman Lee to Samsung C&T Corporation. Initially, Chairman Lee held 20.76% of Samsung Life Insurance shares, but by inheriting them to the bereaved family, Samsung C&T Corporation, with a 19.34% stake, became the largest shareholder. Through this inheritance, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's stake in Samsung Life Insurance rose from 0.06% to 10.44%, while President Lee Boo-jin and Director Lee Seo-hyun's stakes became 6.92% and 3.46%, respectively.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong became the second-largest shareholder of Samsung Life Insurance through this inheritance. Considering that Samsung C&T Corporation is the largest shareholder, he became the largest individual shareholder. The Samsung Group has a governance structure that goes from 'Samsung C&T Corporation → Samsung Life Insurance → Samsung Electronics,' and Vice Chairman Lee, as the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T Corporation, indirectly controls Samsung Electronics through C&T and Life Insurance. It is interpreted that by securing the key link of Samsung Life Insurance shares, he has strengthened his control over Samsung Electronics.

The largest portion of the stock assets left by Chairman Lee, Samsung Electronics shares, will be inherited according to the statutory inheritance ratio. Mrs. Hong receives 3/9, and the three siblings, including Vice Chairman Lee, receive 2/9 each. Accordingly, the Samsung Electronics shareholding ratio (common stock) will be 2.30% for Hong Ra-hee, 1.63% for Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and 0.93% each for President Lee Boo-jin and Director Lee Seo-hyun. Mrs. Hong became the largest individual shareholder in her personal capacity.

The stocks left by Chairman Lee included 4.18% of Samsung Electronics, 20.76% of Samsung Life Insurance, 2.88% of Samsung C&T Corporation, and 0.01% of Samsung SDS. The day was the deadline for payment of inheritance tax for Chairman Lee, and the bereaved family reported the inheritance tax to the Yongsan Tax Office through the law firm Kim & Chang and paid 2 trillion won, which is one-sixth of the declared tax amount (about 12 trillion won).

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