Weathering the Storm

A year of trouble and trials for chaebols test top fortunes.

CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/NEWSCOM

A

president jailed, the chief

of the biggest conglom-

erate facing a landmark

criminal trial, a missile-

defense system against the

North that has infuriated China—South

Korea has had one tumultuous year.

Leaders of the country’s top chaebols

were questioned in connection with the

presidential scandal in an unprecedented

hearing at the National Assembly. Five of

them are on our list.

Yet the market hardly flinched. The

country’s benchmark Kospi returned 6%

over the past year, thanks to Samsung

Electronics, which accounts for 22% of

the exchange’s total market cap—its share

price jumped by more than 60%. That

made the country’s richest person, Lee

Kun-Hee, this year’s biggest gainer in dol-

lar terms and more than twice as wealthy

as the runner-up. Thanks to his stake in

the flagship, Samsung’s chairman was

up by $4.2 billion. But his son, Jay Y. Lee

(No. 3), who’s now behind bars (see p. 70),

gets the bulk of his fortune from Samsung

C&T—the family’s holding company—so

his fortune was flat at $6.2 billion. The

second-biggest gainer in dollars was

online-gaming tycoon Kwon Hyuk-Bin

(No. 4), who saw his wealth rise by $1.2

billion, to $6.1 billion.

Three new people landed on the list:

mobile maven Bang Jun-Hyuk, who joins

as a billionaire at No. 24 (opposite); Ham

Young-Joon of instant-food giant Ottogi

at No. 47 (see p. 74); and Cho Hyun-Sang

of industrial conglomerate Hyosung at

No. 49 (his older brother is at No. 46).

No. 38 Michael Kim of private equity

firm MBK Partners breaks into the bil-

lionaire ranks after his fourth investment

fund collected $4.1 billion. He’s listing

his ING Insurance Korea this month and

is expected to raise $1.2 billion in the

second-biggest initial public offering of

the year so far. It will be the first time a

company wholly owned by a private eq-

uity firm will list on the Korean exchange.

Most people from last year saw their

net worths take a hit. One was Lim Sung-

Ki, the biggest loser in percentage terms.

The pharmaceutical tycoon shed 56% of

his fortune, largely because of delayed

clinical trials and canceled or amended

contracts with three multinationals.

Shares of his Hanmi Science, which

specializes in cancer and diabetes drugs,

plunged 54%, wiping out $4.5 billion in

market cap from a year ago. But he’s still a

billionaire, coming in at No. 15.

Net worths were based on stock prices

and exchange rates as of the close of mar-

kets on April 14. —With Forbes Korea

Taking the stand: Top chaebol leaders were questioned before the National Assembly in December.

South Korea’s 50 Richest

BY GRACE CHUNG AND JOHN KOPPISCH