Ranking the Top 30 Chaebols is Now a Meaningless Exercise

In Korea, the concept of the 30 biggest chaebols was important. The ordering of the biggest chaebols reflected the Korean drive to expand and the idea that bigger meant better.
But all that is over. Because so many of the 30 biggest chaebols have collapsed since the IMF bail-out. A big company can be inefficient especially when it has such diverse operations.
Among the 30 biggest chaebols the Fair Trade Committee decided as of April, that five chaebols consisting of, Dongah, Gohap, Sinho, Geopyung and Kangwon Industry are now under a 'work-out' arrangement with creditor banks and Anam group has also applied for a similar status with creditor banks on October 24.
New Core, Jinro and Haitai which are all managed in consultation with creditor banks will likely only maintain its businesses as much smaller companies, not as chaebols.
SSangyong, the seventh largest chaebol, will turn into a medium-sized group by downsizing its businesses.
Hanwha, the eighth, is selling its businesses to restructure its organization.
Hyosung, the sixteenth, earlier merged four companies including Hyosung T&C and Hyosung Heavy Industry.
Accordingly, the number of the big 30 chaebols' subsidiaries has diminished by 80 from 804 as of April to 724 in September.