“You’re Glad Samsung Electronics’ Stock Is Falling?”... Shareholders With Accounts Cut in Half Fume

Closed at the "180,000-won mark" on Nov. 6
Outrage over employees' hefty performance bonuses

After a sharp plunge, Samsung Electronics closed below the 200,000-won mark, highlighting the conflicting interests of investors who have suffered losses from the falling share price and employees awaiting performance bonuses.

According to online communities and other sources on Nov. 6, a person identified as A, who said he was a civil servant, criticized the bonus payment structure at semiconductor companies. "Semiconductors are a quintessentially cyclical business," he said. "Companies make astronomical profits during boom times, but must absorb losses amounting to trillions of won during downturns."

Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap News.

He asked whether it was reasonable for employees to demand performance bonuses worth more than 10% of operating profits during a semiconductor boom, saying, "Regardless of market conditions, companies bear the burden of massive capital investments in facilities and research and development costs, while the company and its shareholders shoulder the resulting risks."

He also questioned the practice of tying employee compensation to corporate profits, particularly when production line shutdowns are used as leverage. Using a restaurant as an example, he imagined employees at a restaurant doing well demanding bonuses worth more than 10% of its operating profit. He noted that when business is slow, however, employees do not share 10% of the losses. "A performance bonus should, as the name implies, be compensation for performance," he said. "Astronomical rewards should not be taken for granted simply because someone happened to work for a company during a boom."

A raised the level of criticism while comparing the compensation of stock investors and employees, saying, "Employee bonuses become guaranteed income as soon as they are paid, but returns on shareholders' investments remain uncertain until the very end." He also remarked, "Shareholders are left swallowing their tears as stock prices fall, while employees beam over bonuses worth hundreds of millions of won."

Previously, posts among Samsung Electronics employees sparked controversy by welcoming the stock price decline. The posts argued that employees receiving performance bonuses in shares would get more shares for the same amount of money if the reference price used to calculate the number of shares was lower.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics closed at 188,700 won on Nov. 6, down 6.35%. This was less than half of the record high of 380,000 won set in June.

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