Lee Jae-Yong Becomes South Korea’s Richest Person
Sobia Sultan
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong’s net worth has amounted to $11.5 billion, making him South Korea’s richest person for the first time.
According to Forbes’ list of South Korea’s wealthiest people, he has topped the list for the first time in his life.
His current wealth amounts to KRW 15.81 trillion ($11.5 billion), which has swelled by $3.5 billion.
Kim Byung-ju, chairman of MBK Partners, was at the top of the list last year.
However, his ranking has fallen this year to second place, with a net worth of $9.7 billion.
Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion, has been placed third in the ranking, with a net worth of $7.5 billion. Cho Jung-ho, chairman of Meritz Financial Group, with a net worth of $6.2 billion, ranks fourth among the list of the richest individuals.
Hyundai Motor Group’s chairman, Chung Mong-Koo, stands in the fifth position with assets of around $4.6 billion.
The increase in Lee Jae-yong’s net worth has been attributed to the surge in the company’s recent stock price.
According to media reports, Samsung Electronics is expected to record a 10-fold hike in its first-quarter profits, mainly due to a major rebound in the price of microchips driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
In a preliminary statement, Samsung Electronics projected its operating profits to increase by 931%. Samsung’s semiconductor chip received a crucial order from Nvidia for HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) chips used for AI processing.
Samsung Electronics had not performed well in 2023, with profits tumbling by more than 95%.Lucky partners with Samsung to Produce Mobile Devices
However, it has seen a significant increase in its profits since the first quarter of 2024.