From the Chairman Who Received 18.8 Billion Won to the President With 7.3 Billion Won... Stock Jackpot Hits Amid Market Boom

CEO Score Survey of Stock-Based Compensation

Samsung Electronics Tops List with 1.65 Trillion Won Awarded

Park Jeongwon Ranks First Among Individuals with 18.8 Billion Won in RSUs

The total value of stock compensation—where major domestic conglomerate employees receive company shares instead of bonuses or incentives—exceeded 2 trillion won within just five months this year. In particular, as the stock market has seen a strong rally led by semiconductor and major blue-chip stocks, the value of shares received by employees has nearly doubled in just a few months, resulting in what is being called a "company stock jackpot."

According to a survey by the corporate data research institute CEO Score on the current status of company stock paid through bonuses, incentives, restricted stock units (RSUs), and employee stock ownership unions at the top 100 listed companies by market capitalization in Korea, a total of 18 companies provided their employees with shares worth 2.2811 trillion won from January to May this year.

This figure is an explosive 3.3 times higher than the same period last year (697.2 billion won). It already exceeds the total annual payout for last year (1.6992 trillion won) by 1.3 times, indicating that the compensation paradigm at large companies is rapidly shifting toward stock-based rewards.

The sharp increase in stock compensation stems from major corporations actively introducing the restricted stock unit (RSU) system to encourage long-term service and strengthen responsible management among employees. RSUs are granted as company shares for free if employees stay for a certain period or achieve performance targets. Even if the share price declines, a certain value is guaranteed, and if the share price rises, the perceived value of compensation grows exponentially, which is why this system is quickly spreading among large corporations.

The company with the largest payout this year was, by far, Samsung Electronics. From January to May, Samsung Electronics provided employees with stock worth 1.6503 trillion won—4.8 times more than its total payout for all of last year—ranking a dominant first. SK hynix followed, paying out 377.1 billion won, a 22.6% increase compared to last year. Other major companies in terms of stock compensation size included Doosan (49.4 billion won), SK Square (47.8 billion won), HYBE (30.7 billion won), Hyundai Motor Company (24.6 billion won), Kakao (24.5 billion won), and LS Electric (16 billion won).

The value of the shares granted to employees by these companies has surged alongside recent stock price increases. Although the total value of stock compensation paid this year was 2.2811 trillion won, the market value of these shares as of the end of May had doubled to 4.5242 trillion won.

The value of shares in semiconductor-related companies, in particular, has risen sharply. For SK hynix, although the stock compensation paid this year was 377.1 billion won, the value of those shares had grown to 1.0238 trillion won by the end of May—an increase of 2.7 times. Similarly, SK Square's 47.8 billion won in stock rewards had grown 2.5 times to 121.4 billion won, and DB HiTek's value doubled from 5 billion won to 10.4 billion won. For Samsung Electronics, the 1.6503 trillion won in stock compensation had reached a market value of 3.1218 trillion won by May, a 1.9-fold increase.

Meanwhile, the individual who received the largest amount of stock compensation through May this year was Park Jeongwon, Chairman of Doosan Group, who received RSUs worth a total of 18.8 billion won during this period. He was followed by Kwak Nojeong, CEO of SK hynix (8.8 billion won), Roh Taemoon, President of Samsung Electronics (7.3 billion won), and Song Jaeseung, CIO of SK Square (7 billion won), who also ranked among the top recipients.

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