Samsung's top tier pulled in $5 million each last year

[YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics' top executive directors took home an average of 6 billion won ($5 million) in compensation last year.

According to documents filed with the Financial Services Commission and Korea Exchange, a total of 32.3 billion won was paid to 11 registered executive directors last year.

The pay of six independent or outside directors including former Finance Minister Park Jae-won is fixed. While the amount has not been disclosed, it is expected that their pay is about the same as what they received in 2020.

The six outside directors in total were paid 800 million won.

Therefore, the five inside executive directors including Kim Ki-nam, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology chairman, received a total of 31.5 billion won.

This translate to an average of 6.3 billion won per inside executive director.

Kim Ki-nam was promoted to his current position in December. He was previously the vice chairman and head of the company’s DS Division.

Other inside directors included former co-CEOs Koh Dong-jin and Kim Hyun-suk as well as Han Jong-hee, who was promoted from head of the company’s visual display department to vice chairman and CEO of the newly merged SET Division in December, and Choi Yoon-ho, Samsung SDI CEO, who until December was CFO of Samsung Electronics.

The paychecks of Samsung’s executives have been rising rapidly thanks to the company’s record breaking performance.

The average annual salary of inside directors in 2019 was 3 billion won. In 2020 it rose 77 percent to 5.4 billion won.

In 2020, Samsung’s Chairman Kim Ki-nam was paid 8.3 billion won including 6.6 billion won in a bonus.

The co-CEO Koh Dong-jin was paid 6.7 billion won, Kim Hyun-suk 5.5 billion won, Han Jong-hee 4.2 billion won and Choi Yoon-ho 3 billion won.

Former Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun still holds the record for annual salaries among Samsung Electronics directors.

Kwon, who retired in 2020, received 17.2 billion won including severance pay that year.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, has not taken pay from Samsung since 2017.

He is not, however, required to disclose how much he received from the company as an unregistered director.

The details of how much each director received last year will be disclosed during the company’s shareholders’ meeting next month.

Under the Capital Markets Act, which was revised in 2013, all registered directors of listed companies that are paid more than 500 million won in annual salary are required to disclose the amounts they receive.

Thanks to booming global demand for semiconductor, Samsung Electronics last year reported a record-breaking performance.

Sales hit an all-time high of 279.6 trillion won in 2021, up 18 percent from a year earlier.

Net profit jumped 51.1 percent to 39.9 trillion won. Operating profit rose 43.5 percent to 51. 6 trillion won,

However, Korea’s biggest company is facing its first strike since it was founded.

Labor representatives argue that the pay gap between top level officials and other employees is too wide.

BY KWON HYE-RIM [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]