Samsung Electronics Chairman Kim Ki-nam's Compensation 8.6 Billion KRW Last Year... Lee Jae-yong Unpaid for 5 Years

Facility Investment Hits Record 48 Trillion Won... Highest R&D Expenses and Employees
120,000 Small Shareholders Left in Q4 Last Year Amid Stock Price Slump

Samsung Electronics achieved record-high performance with annual sales exceeding 279 trillion won. On the 7th, Samsung Electronics announced that its preliminary consolidated results for last year showed sales of 279.04 trillion won and an operating profit of 51.57 trillion won. Employees are arriving at Samsung Electronics Seocho Office on the day. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jin-ho] Kim Ki-nam, Chairman of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, received a salary of 8.644 billion KRW last year, marking the highest amount within Samsung Electronics. Including retirement pay, Go Dong-jin, an advisor who stepped down as Samsung Electronics CEO, received the largest amount at 11.838 billion KRW, while Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has not received any salary for five consecutive years.

According to the business report disclosed by Samsung Electronics on the 9th, the total remuneration paid to the five inside directors of Samsung Electronics last year was 38.735 billion KRW, averaging 7.747 billion KRW per person.

Including retirement pay, Advisor Go Dong-jin received 11.838 billion KRW, consisting of a salary of 1.17 billion KRW, bonuses of 4.046 billion KRW, and retirement pay of 6.435 billion KRW. Chairman Kim Ki-nam received a total of 8.644 billion KRW, including a salary of 1.742 billion KRW and bonuses of 6.745 billion KRW.

Advisor Kim Hyun-suk received 10.334 billion KRW, including retirement pay of 5.547 billion KRW. Advisors Kim Sang-kyun and Lee Sang-hoon received 9.569 billion KRW and 8.745 billion KRW, respectively.

Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee received an annual salary of 4.505 billion KRW, and Choi Yoon-ho, former head of the Management Support Office (currently President of Samsung SDI), received 3.414 billion KRW. On the other hand, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong did not receive any remuneration.

According to the business report, Samsung Electronics recorded all-time highs last year in facility investment, research and development expenses, and number of employees.

Last year's facility investment amounted to 48.2 trillion KRW, an increase of about 25% (9.7 trillion KRW) compared to the previous year (38.5 trillion KRW). This amount also exceeded the 43.4 trillion KRW invested during the semiconductor boom in 2017.

Of the total facility investment last year, 43.567 trillion KRW was allocated to the semiconductor business. Additionally, 2.6133 trillion KRW was invested in the display business, and 2.0419 trillion KRW in other businesses. Research and development expenses last year also reached a record high of 22.5965 trillion KRW, up 1.3735 trillion KRW from the previous year (21.223 trillion KRW).

The number of Samsung Electronics employees last year was 113,485, the highest annual figure ever recorded. Male employees numbered 84,257, while female employees numbered 29,228. The average salary of all employees was 144 million KRW.

Meanwhile, as Samsung Electronics' stock price stagnated in the fourth quarter last year, the number of small shareholders holding common stock decreased by about 120,000. According to the business report, as of the end of last year, the number of small shareholders with less than 1% stake was 5,066,351. This is a decrease of 122,453 from 5,188,804 small shareholders recorded at the end of September last year, when the number first surpassed 5 million.

Since the first half of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, a liquidity-driven market has intensified the stock investment craze, leading to a rapid increase in individual shareholders of Samsung Electronics. However, as the semiconductor industry outlook became uncertain and stock prices stagnated, many individual shareholders sold their Samsung Electronics shares.

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