Minor Sibling Stock Billionaires Worth 80 Billion Won... Top Growth Rate Belongs to Academy Chaebol Family

Top Stock Symbol Holder is Jeong Seongjae, CEO of Classys, and His Two Children

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Ji-hwan] Among minors (under 19 years old) holding shares of listed companies in South Korea, the wealthiest stock owners based on valuation are the two children of Jung Sung-jae, CEO of Classys, who each hold stocks valued at around 80 billion KRW. Since the beginning of this year, the minors with the highest growth rate in stock valuation were children from academy conglomerate families such as Visang Education and Digital Daesung.

According to financial information firm FnGuide on the 24th, as of the previous day's closing price, there were 108 minors owning stocks worth over 1 billion KRW. The total valuation of their holdings amounted to 809.5 billion KRW, with an average of about 7.5 billion KRW per person.

The wealthiest minors holding shares of domestic listed companies were identified as Seo Yoon (female) and Seok Won (male), the two children of Jung Sung-jae, CEO of Classys, a company specializing in beauty medical devices. Aged 15 and 17 this year, they each hold 6.80% of Classys shares. The valuation of their stocks reaches 82.5 billion KRW.

The third wealthiest minor stockholder is Ho Kyung (female), the 8-year-old granddaughter of Jung Ji-wan, chairman of semiconductor materials company Solbrain Holdings, holding stocks valued at 52.7 billion KRW. She owns shares in the holding company Solbrain Holdings (0.36%) and Solbrain (2.28%).

From 4th to 10th place among minor stockholders are the grandchildren of Lim Sung-ki, chairman of Hanmi Pharmaceutical. They received shares of Hanmi Science from their grandfather in 2019. Lim Sung-yeon holds the largest share at 1.08%, valued at 39.7 billion KRW. Six others?Kim Won-se, Lim Sung-ji, Kim Ji-woo, Lim Hu-yeon, Lim Yoon-ji, and Lim Sung-ah?each hold 1.05%, with valuations reaching 38.8 billion KRW.

The highest share value growth rates were seen among academy conglomerate families. The most notable among them is Visang Education. In April, founder Yang Tae-hoe, CEO of Visang Education, gifted 2.35% (306,000 shares) of his ownership to his children. At the time of gifting, the stock value was about 2.6 billion KRW (closing price 8,350 KRW). His three children?eldest son Yang Seung-min (25), eldest daughter Yang Se-rin (21), and youngest son Yang Se-min (16)?each received 0.64% (83,000 shares, 700 million KRW), 0.64% (83,000 shares, 700 million KRW), and 1.08% (140,000 shares, 1.2 billion KRW), respectively. Se-min’s holdings increased from 14,078 shares to 154,078 shares, with the stock valuation soaring from 94 million KRW at the end of last year to 1.188 billion KRW, a 1169% jump.

The shares of the great-grandchildren of the late Kim Man-gi, founder of Daesung Academy, also surged by 200-600% over the past year. This increase was due to the February merger of Digital Daesung affiliates. The shares held by the founder’s great-grandchildren in the unlisted Gangnam Daesung Dormitory Academy were converted into new shares of the listed company Digital Daesung through the merger. The great-grandchildren Kim Jeong-ha (17), Kim Jeong-min (13), and Yoon Seok-jin (12) received 496,727 shares (1.67%), 428,394 shares (1.44%), and 149,806 shares (0.50%) of Digital Daesung’s new merged shares, respectively. Their current stock valuations are 5.5 billion KRW for Kim Jeong-ha, 5.2 billion KRW for Kim Jeong-min, and 2.1 billion KRW for Yoon Seok-jin, representing increases of 651%, 370%, and 236% over the past year.

Yang Seung-joo, a 10-year-old shareholder at Daishin Securities, is presumed to be the son of CEO Yang Hong-seok. Through continuous stock purchases this year, his holdings increased from 40,000 shares at the end of last year to 90,000 shares currently. The valuation of his shares rose from 546 million KRW to 1.881 billion KRW, a 244.5% increase.

Among newly joining minor stockholders this year, the two sons of Ahn Jong-oh, CEO of DearU, an IT affiliate of SM Entertainment, stood out. Eden (14) and Lee Chan (9) each hold stocks valued at around 6.3 billion KRW, newly entering the ranks of wealthy stockholders. This was influenced by the significant increase in value of previously gifted unlisted shares following DearU’s listing on KOSDAQ in November.

Geon-tae and Yoo-tae (16), relatives of Kim Beom-su, chairman of Kakao, also quickly joined the ranks of wealthy stockholders with stocks valued at 1.7 billion KRW. Earlier this year, Chairman Kim gifted 330,000 Kakao shares to relatives, resulting in them holding 4,550 Kakao shares each.

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