'Dirt Spoon' Kim Beom-su, Korea's Richest Person (Comprehensive)

- Self-made net assets of 15.4926 trillion KRW
- Lee Jae-yong ranks 2nd with 14.1179 trillion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporters Nahum Kang and Yujin Cho] Kim Beom-su, chairman of the board and founder of Kakao, has become the richest person in South Korea.

According to Bloomberg's billionaire index on the 29th (local time), Chairman Kim holds a net worth of $13.5 billion (approximately 15.4926 trillion KRW), surpassing Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who has $12.3 billion (approximately 14.1179 trillion KRW), to claim the top spot domestically.

Chairman Kim's wealth increased by more than $6 billion (approximately 6.9 trillion KRW) due to the 91% surge in Kakao's stock price since the beginning of the year, which boosted the value of his shares. Bloomberg highlighted this as a case where a self-made tech entrepreneur has overtaken the chaebol heads who have dominated the Korean economy for decades. It also analyzed that expectations for the successive initial public offerings (IPOs) of Kakao's subsidiaries have been reflected in Kakao's stock price, contributing to Chairman Kim's asset growth.

At the end of 2019, Kakao Group's market capitalization was only 13.2388 trillion KRW, ranking 13th among groups by market cap. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the core non-face-to-face businesses gained attention, leading to a significant increase in market capitalization. From the end of 2019 to last month, Kakao Group's market cap grew by approximately 459%, an increase of 60.7006 trillion KRW.

While COVID-19 had an impact, the expansion of subsidiaries into various sectors such as gaming, finance, content, and mobility is seen as a key factor. Especially, with large-scale IPOs of subsidiaries lined up, Kakao Group's share in the stock market is expected to grow even further.

Kakao Bank, in which Kakao holds a 31.8% stake, is preparing for an IPO soon, and if the offering price is set at the upper end of the desired range, it is expected to raise about 2.6 trillion KRW. Additionally, Kakao Pay is working towards an IPO as early as September, and Kakao Japan's listing in Japan is also forthcoming.

Chairman Kim, who brought Kakao to its current position, is well known as a ‘dirt spoon’ who grew up in a single-room home with eight family members during his childhood. He is said to be the only one among five siblings to attend university. While studying at Seoul National University (Industrial Engineering, class of ’86), he struggled to continue his studies by earning tuition through private tutoring.

After graduating from university, Chairman Kim joined Samsung Data Systems (the predecessor of Samsung SDS). In 1998, he resigned from Samsung SDS and founded Hangame. In 2000, he merged Hangame with Naver, founded by his Samsung SDS colleague Lee Hae-jin, becoming co-CEO of NHN. After stepping down as NHN CEO in 2007, he joined ‘iWilab,’ the predecessor of Kakao, and four years later launched the mobile messenger program ‘KakaoTalk.’

Since then, Kakao has expanded its business areas beyond mobile messaging to payments, finance, gaming, ride-hailing, and more, establishing itself as a major conglomerate with 118 subsidiaries.

Along with his growing wealth, Chairman Kim has shown great interest in social contribution. In February, he pledged to donate half of his assets (5 trillion KRW at the time) to society, and in March, he joined ‘The Giving Pledge,’ a voluntary donation campaign started by Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and Bill and Melinda Gates, founders of Microsoft (MS), declaring his intention to use his wealth to solve social problems.

On the 1st of last month, Chairman Kim completed the establishment approval process for the 5 trillion KRW donation project foundation ‘Brian Impact’ and began full-scale philanthropic activities. The foundation’s purpose is to achieve ‘social impact’ (continuously spreading positive effects throughout society by attempting innovative changes) by supporting innovators who change the world through technology and those preparing for the future. The foundation plans to support future society innovation research and projects, social problem-solving through artificial intelligence (AI) and technology, job creation, and other initiatives.

At an internal meeting in February, Chairman Kim said, "I don’t want the donation funds to just sit idle; I want to use them immediately where needed," adding, "I want to set a structure to spend several hundred billion KRW annually or by other units. It would be great if we could solve even a few social problems by investing large-scale capital."

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