Samsung family’s shareholdings shrink by $8 bn in one year

Samsung Group’s four heirs to the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee have seen their group company shareholdings shrink by a combined 11 trillion won ($8 billion) over the past year, driven by double-digit declines in shares of Samsung Electronics and other major units.

The stock price of Samsung Electronics plunged to its lowest level in about two years on Sept. 8. The four family members’ ownership in the world’s top memory chipmaker has decreased by 21% to 8.3 trillion won ($6 billion) in value during the same period, according to financial market data provider FnGuide on Monday.

Part of the decline is attributed to their stock sales to pay for inheritance taxes after the senior Lee passed away in 2020.

The four Samsung family heirs are Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, the group’s de facto leader; his mother Hong Ra-hee; Lee’s elder sister and Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin; and his younger sister Samsung Welfare Foundation chairman Lee Seo-hyun.

Three of them, excluding the youngest sister, are ranked the country’s top three shareholders in terms of value.

Jay Y. Lee became South Korea’s No. 1 shareholder in the domestic stock market around May of last year after inheriting his father’s shares. His shares in Samsung Group units have lost 3 trillion won in value to 11.6 trillion won from the previous year.

His mother’s ownership in the group companies is down by slightly over one-third to 6.7 trillion won. She holds 1.96% of Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Group four heirs' shareholdings in the group's listed units in value
	Value as of Sept. 8	Year-on-year drop
Samsung Engineering	6.8 trillion won	2.58%
Samsung Electronics	5.4 trillion won	27.13%
Samsung C&T	3.9 trillion won	11.11%
Samsung Life Insurance	1.3 trillion won	13.65%
Samsung SDS	872 billion won	27.94%
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance	844.8 billion won	15.79%

A looming economic slowdown has painted a grim outlook for Samsung and other semiconductor companies. Foreign investors sold a net 1 trillion won in Samsung Electronics shares in the first six trading sessions since the start of this month.

Analysts forecast that Samsung Electronics will likely report poor results in the current quarter and its shares would remain subdued until the early part of next year.

Write to Min-Gyung Shin at radio@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.