Who Bought the Most Company Shares This Year? 3rd Place POSCO's Chey Jeong-woo, Who's 1st?

Evaluation of Major Companies' CEOs Own-Stock Profit and Loss in the First Half of This Year

Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Hynix, was found to have earned the highest valuation gains on treasury stocks among major company CEOs in the first half of this year. With SK Hynix’s stock price rising more than 50% in the first half alone, the valuation gains on treasury stocks received as bonuses this year reached 100 million KRW.

On the 20th, Asia Economy investigated the treasury stock purchase status of CEOs from 30 major companies. Based on this, it estimated the valuation gains and losses on treasury stocks for CEOs of 13 companies in the first half of this year. Existing treasury stock holdings were excluded from the valuation. The comparison was made only on the performance of stocks purchased this year, based on the closing price as of June 19. For split purchases, the average purchase price was applied.

The CEO with the highest valuation gain was Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Hynix (98.6 million KRW). Following him were Jung Cheol-dong, President of LG Innotek (61.5 million KRW), Choi Jeong-woo, Chairman of POSCO Holdings (44.3 million KRW), Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics (31.5 million KRW), and Cho Joo-wan, President of LG Electronics (24 million KRW).

Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho of SK Hynix earned a valuation gain of 98.6 million KRW in just over four months through additional treasury stock acquisitions this year. In February, Park received 4,091 shares of treasury stock at 90,700 KRW per share as a bonus. With semiconductor industry expectations, SK Hynix’s stock price recently rose to the 110,000 KRW level, yielding a return of over 26%. The semiconductor market is currently struggling at the bottom. However, stock prices are a leading indicator. In other words, the expectation that the semiconductor market will recover in a few months and Hynix will post good results has driven the stock price up.

Jung Cheol-dong, President of LG Innotek, purchased an additional 1,000 shares of treasury stock early this year. The average purchase price was 253,000 KRW. LG Innotek’s stock price rose about 23% in the first half of this year. Until last year, concerns about economic recession and weakening smartphone demand caused performance to decline and stock prices to fall, but this year, expectations that performance has bottomed out and will rise have kept the stock price on an upward trend.

Choi Jeong-woo, Chairman of POSCO, also earned valuation gains exceeding 40 million KRW in three months by receiving treasury stocks as a bonus. At the end of March, Chairman Choi received 1,812 shares at 368,000 KRW per share. POSCO Holdings’ stock price, which was in the 330,000 KRW range in March, reached 430,000 KRW in April and is currently trading in the 390,000 KRW range.

Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics, purchased treasury stocks as a measure of responsible management amid falling stock prices and earned profits as the stock price rose. In March, President Kyung bought 3,000 shares on the market at an acquisition price of 60,700 KRW per share. As Samsung’s stock price fell to the 50,000 KRW range last year, the company encouraged internal executives to purchase treasury stocks. President Kyung has purchased treasury stocks worth over 700 million KRW in the past year, the largest amount among Samsung’s senior executives. The purchase of treasury stocks by senior executives during a stock price decline sends a positive signal in terms of responsible management and enhancing shareholder value. Samsung Electronics’ stock price recently reached the 72,000 KRW level.

Cho Joo-wan, President of LG Electronics, is the most recent CEO to purchase treasury stocks. On June 15, President Cho purchased 1,000 shares on the market at 123,500 KRW per share. This was an additional purchase following 2,000 shares bought in March at 113,600 KRW per share. The market interpreted President Cho’s second treasury stock purchase as a commitment to responsible management and enhancing shareholder value. Despite LG Electronics’ stock price rising nearly 50% compared to the beginning of the year, the management purchased treasury stocks, showing confidence that the stock price could rise further.

Meanwhile, some CEOs suffered losses on treasury stocks in the first half of this year. Kwon Young-soo, Vice Chairman of LG Energy Solution, purchased 1,000 shares at 572,800 KRW per share in March. LG Energy Solution’s stock price, which reached a high of 629,000 KRW last year, has fluctuated this year and remains in the 560,000 KRW range. Additionally, Seo Jang-won, President of Coway, purchased 2,000 shares on the market in March at around 49,000 KRW per share but is currently experiencing valuation losses as the stock price has fallen to the 46,000 KRW range.

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