Finance tycoon overtakes Samsung heir as richest South Korean
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Meritz Financial Group chairman Cho Jung-ho (left) has replaced Samsung Electronics executive chairman Lee Jae-yong (right) as South Korea's richest man.
PHOTOS: MERITZ FINANCIAL GROUP, REUTERS
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SEOUL – Finance tycoon Cho Jung-ho has ascended to the top of South Korea’s rich list, ending Samsung Electronics executive chairman Lee Jae-yong’s 2½-year reign.
Meritz Financial Group chairman Cho’s net worth reached US$8.9 billion (S$11.9 billion) at the end of trading on March 6, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mr Lee dropped to the second spot with a net worth of US$8.7 billion.
The blistering 76 per cent rally in Meritz’s shares in 2024 helped fuel Mr Cho’s fortune.
In contrast, Mr Lee’s wealth has eroded after Samsung’s stock tumbled 32 per cent in 2024 and as the family faced billions of dollars in inheritance taxes. The 56-year-old Samsung heir was estimated to be worth US$31.6 billion at his peak in January 2021.
Meritz shares have gained another 22 per cent in 2025, outpacing a 2.1 per cent rise in Samsung.
Mr Cho, 66, built his financial firm over decades into a local powerhouse with about US$80 billion of assets under management. It has insurance, securities and alternative investment management arms.
His rise to South Korea’s uber rich list stands out in a country where inherited fortune largely defines wealth. To be sure, Mr Cho also hails from a business family.
His father founded South Korea’s dominant transportation empire Hanjin Group in 1945, which includes Korean Air Lines and Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Holdings among others.
When the patriarch died in 2002, the crown jewels of the empire went to his three elder sons, while Mr Cho, the youngest son, inherited “leftover” businesses, he told Forbes in 2015.
He has ramped up the insurance business and expanded a holding company model, which has helped Meritz draw comparisons with Mr Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
“Its nickname in the market is Merkshire Hathaway,” Mr Choi Joon-chul, co-chief executive officer at VIP Research & Management, said.
He added that Mr Cho has considered “talent as the core value in the finance industry” so he instilled a culture of meritocracy with strong rewards and fully entrusted his managers.
Mr Cho holds 51 per cent of Meritz, which is a play on the word meritocracy. The company’s market value has surged more than 100 times since its initial public offering in 2011 to US$17 billion.
The shake-out playing out in South Korea’s wealth pecking order underscores the importance of corporate governance in unlocking value for shareholders. The family-owned businesses have traded at a discount to their global peers due to lack of transparency and a complex web of cross-holdings that the founding families have used to maintain control.
Mr Cho’s bet on an asset-light financial services sector with a simple structure has generated handsome returns, with investors rewarding his efforts to improve transparency and shareholder rights.
The company delivered a total shareholder return of 78.3 per cent in 2024, according to its latest earnings report, among the highest among South Korean companies.
Samsung on the other hand has faced numerous headwinds that have pulled down its performance and weighed on its shares. Mr Lee has battled legal challenges over the past decade and the leadership vacuum has partly dented the firm’s ability to compete effectively with domestic rival SK Hynix, which is a key supplier to Nvidia.
In June 2021, Kakao founder Brian Kim dislodged Mr Lee to become South Korea’s richest person. The Samsung heir reclaimed the top spot the following year.
The emergence of non-chaebol individuals into South Korea’s rich list is a sign of how new money is beginning to reshape the country’s wealth landscape, which has long been dominated by five powerful families and some tech entrepreneurs. BLOOMBERG
