The value of stocks held by Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee has surged to a record 18.4 trillion won ($16.1 billion) helped by the soaring prices of Samsung Electronics Co. shares, industry data showed Friday.
Stock prices of the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip producer rose 40.3 percent to 2.52 million won per share Thursday from 1.8 million won as of the end of last year.
The tech giant predicted its second quarter operating profit will hit 14 trillion won compared to 8.14 trillion won a year earlier. The number will be the highest quarterly operating profit in the company's history.
(Yonhap)
The value of Lee's stock holdings jumped 29.5 percent or 4.2 trillion won from six months ago, according to the figures provided by market researcher Chaebul.com.
Bloomberg put Lee as the world's 45th richest person last week with Bill Gates being the wealthiest at $89.4 billion in assets followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at $83.9 billion. Lee has been hospitalized since May 2014 after he suffered a heart attack.
The value of stocks held by Lee Jae-yong, heir apparent and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was tallied at 8.2 trillion won, up 23.8 percent or 1.58 trillion won. Jae-yong is the senior Lee's only son.
The younger Lee emerged as the country's second wealthiest man, beating Suh Kyung-bae, chief of South Korea's top cosmetics maker Amore Pacific Co., with 7.38 trillion won in assets.
Hong Ra-hee, wife of Lee Kun-hee and former director of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, has 2.73 trillion won worth of stocks under her name, up 40.1 percent from the end of last year.
The value of stocks held by Lee Kun-hee's daughters Lee Bu-jin, Hotel Shilla CEO, and Lee Seo-hyun, Samsung C&T President, also climbed to 2.73 trillion won each, up 40.1 percent from the end of last year.
The total value of stocks held by Lee Kun-hee and his family members has been estimated to have risen by 7.27 trillion won this year alone.
Lee Kun-hee owns 3.82 percent of Samsung Electronics Co. and the comparable figures are 0.83 percent and 0.64 percent each for Hong Ra-hee and Lee Jae-yong. (Yonhap)
