Lee Jae-yong Achieves Four Crowns in Sales, Operating Profit, Net Profit, and Employment... Jeong Ui-seon and Choi Tae-won Battle Fiercely for Second Place

CXO Research Institute Analyzes Last Year's Group Heads' Management Performance
Lee Jae-yong Sweeps 1st Place in Sales, Operating Profit, and Net Profit
LG Surpasses SK in Employment, Enters 'Top 3'

Samsung, led by Chairman Lee Jae-yong, topped four categories last year: sales, operating profit, net profit, and employment scale. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, who competes annually for the second place in the total fair assets ranking (chaebol hierarchy), surpassed SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won in sales and net profit, while Chey Tae-won led in operating profit.

The Korea CXO Institute, a corporate analysis specialist organization, announced the results of the "2022 Group Heads Management Performance Analysis" on the 22nd. It compiled 13 items based on the management performance and employment scale of subsidiaries reported to the Fair Trade Commission by 82 large business groups with total assets exceeding 5 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attending the 2023 Samsung Ho-Am Prize Awards Ceremony held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on the afternoon of the 1st. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The survey showed Samsung's sales at 418.7712 trillion won. The CXO Institute stated, "It is understood that the group's sales surpassed 400 trillion won for the first time." Samsung accounted for 18.6% of the total sales (2,247.2497 trillion won) of the 82 groups. Samsung's operating profit was 37.8015 trillion won, and net profit was 37.305 trillion won.

This represented 24.1% of the 82 groups' operating profit (156.7386 trillion won) and 29.1% of net profit (128.1001 trillion won).

Chung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. [Photo by Hyundai Motor Group]

Notably, Hyundai Motor reclaimed the second place in net profit from SK after one year. Hyundai Motor Group ranked second in sales and net profit last year.

Last year, Hyundai Motor Group's sales were 248.897 trillion won, and net profit was 11.6712 trillion won, surpassing SK's 11.0385 trillion won in net profit. In 2021, SK's net profit (18.4059 trillion won) was more than double Hyundai's (8.4999 trillion won).

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, delivering the keynote speech at the '2023 Expanded Management Meeting' held on the 15th at Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In operating profit, SK maintained second place for two consecutive years. SK Chairman Chey Tae-won earned 18.8282 trillion won in operating profit last year, outpacing Hyundai Motor's 12.5832 trillion won.

Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, is conversing with attendees at the '2023 Korea Small and Medium Business Conference' held on the lawn of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul, on the 23rd of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In employment, LG overtook SK to enter the 'top 3.' LG, led by Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, employed 156,775 people. Along with Samsung (274,002) and Hyundai Motor (188,891), LG was included in the 'top 3.'

Compared to the total employment of 1,762,391 people across the 82 groups, Samsung accounted for 15.5%, Hyundai Motor 10.7%, and LG 8.9%.

In terms of growth rate, group heads outside the four major groups stood out. KG Group, led by Chairman Kwak Jae-sun, ranked first with a sales growth rate of 83.4% (from 4.9833 trillion won to 9.1384 trillion won), reflecting the acquisition of KG Mobility (formerly Ssangyong Motor). Second place was honorary chairman Lee Man-deuk of Samchully (57%), and third was honorary chairman Huh Chang-soo of GS (52.1%). KG Group also ranked first in employment growth rate at 66.4% (from 6,706 to 11,156 employees).

In operating profit growth rate, HD Hyundai honorary chairman Chung Mong-joon of the Asan Nanum Foundation ranked first with a 1,030.6% increase (from 295.1 billion won to 3.3374 trillion won). Chairman Chung does not engage in management activities. Second place was Park Sung-soo, chairman of E-Land Group (339.3%), and third was honorary chairman Lee Man-deuk of Samchully (232.3%). The highest net profit growth rate was by Kwon Hyuk-woon, chairman of IS Holdings Group (319.7%), followed by honorary chairman Lee Man-deuk of Samchully (281.3%) and Chairman Cho Won-tae of Hanjin (261.6%).

In operating profit margin (operating profit relative to sales), Dunamu, led by Chairman Song Chi-hyung, ranked first with 65.4%, and in net profit margin (net profit relative to sales), Janggeum Shipping, led by Chairman Jeong Tae-soon, ranked first with 42.3%. The highest operating profit and net profit per employee were achieved by Korea HC Group, led by Chairman Park Jung-seok.

Eight groups increased sales, operating profit, and net profit by more than 30% in one year. Listed by asset ranking this year, they are Chairman Huh Chang-soo of GS Group, Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-joon (HD Hyundai), Chairman Cho Won-tae of Hanjin, Chairman Jeong Tae-soon of Janggeum Shipping, Chairman Lee Woo-hyun of OCI, Honorary Chairman Lee Man-deuk of Samchully, Chairman Kwon Hyuk-woon of IS Holdings, and Chairman Kwon Hong-sa of Bando Holdings. The CXO Institute said about these eight, "It is like receiving an A grade in academic scores."

The outlook for this year is bleak due to sluggish exports and economic recession. Oh Il-seon, director of the CXO Institute, said, "Based on early-year performance, the results of Samsung, SK, and LG Group subsidiaries have worsened compared to last year, while Hyundai Motor's performance showed an upward trend," adding, "It will be interesting to see how much Hyundai Motor can increase its operating profit this year."

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