CEO paychecks were pretty huge this year

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CEO paychecks were pretty huge this year

Former co-CEOs of Kakao, Joh Su-yong, right, and Yeo Min-soo. [KAKAO]

Former co-CEOs of Kakao, Joh Su-yong, right, and Yeo Min-soo. [KAKAO]

 The former co-CEOs of Kakao, Joh Su-yong and Yeo Min-soo, were the most highly paid executives in the first half of the year.   
  
The two pocketed more than 30 billion won ($23 million) after exercising stock options.  
 
According to a regulatory filing made by Kakao, Joh pocketed 36.1 billion won, including 385 million won in salary, becoming Korea's highest paid executive.  
 
Co-CEO Yeo came in second with 33.2 billion won including a salary of 256 million won.
 
The two stepped down as CEOs of Kakao in March.  
 
Most of their earnings came from exercising stock options in the company.
 
Joh sold 450,000 shares for 33.8 billion won. Yeo sold 425,000 shares for 31.8 billion won.  
 
Joh’s severance pay was 700 million won while Yeo’s was 200 million won.  
 
Other former Kakao executives also profited from exercising stock options.  
 
Former Chief Technology Officer Jung Ui-jeong raked in 8.7 billion won from selling 149,130 shares. When adding his salary, the former CTO made nearly 9.6 billion won.  
 
Former Kakao Corporate Alignment Center chief Kim Joo-won sold 149,420 shares for 7.7 billion won.
 
Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, who resigned as board chairman in March, pocketed 626 million won including a 500 million won bonus.
 
Among currently serving CEOs in the country, SK hynix vice chairman Park Sung-wook ranked No.1 in pay in the first half.  
 
Park received 600 million won in salary and 600 million won in bonuses.  
 
He exercised options on 996,000 shares in the first half worth 8.4 billion won.  
 
 
Other SK hynix executives also pocketed huge paychecks.  
 
Park Jung-ho, SK hynix vice chairman, pocketed nearly 8.8 billion won including bonuses: 4.5 billion won from SK hynix, 2.8 billion won from SK Telecom and 1.5 billion won from SK Square, an investment management company that launched in November.
 
The SK hynix bonus was the result of the company’s record-breaking performance. The chipmaker saw revenue surge 38 percent year-on-year to nearly 26 trillion won while operating profit rose 75 percent to over 7 trillion won.  
 
Lee Seok-hee, the former CEO of SK hynix who became executive chairman of SK hynix's U.S.-based subsidiary Solidigm, made 8.4 billion won in the first half including 4.6 billion won in retirement pay from SK hynix.
 
SK bioscience CTO Kim Hun reported earnings of 7 billion won in the first half, SK bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong made 6.9 billion won, SK Supex chairman Cho Dae-sik made 5.8 billion won, and SK Inc. vice chairman Jang Dong-hyun made 5.2 billion won.
 
The top paid executives at Samsung were members of the old guard that have stepped back from key roles including Kim Ki-nam, whose role shifted from Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman for the digital solution division to Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology chairman in December.
 
Kim pocketed 3.2 billion won in the first half.  
 
Former Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman and CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, who is now an advisor to the company, earned 3.1 billion won.  
 
Other former Samsung Electronics division CEOs who now are advisors -- Yoon Boo-keun, Koh Dong-jin and Shin Jong-kyun -- earned at least 2.6 billion won each.
 
Han Jong-hee, the company’s vice chairman and CEO, was paid 2 billion won.  
 
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was paid nearly 10.3 billion won from seven Lotte companies including Lotte Holdings, Lotte Chemical and Lotte Confectionary.  
 
That’s almost a 30 percent increase from the near 8 billion won pay he received in the first half of last year.  
 
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo trailed with 7.1 billion won, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn with 5.4 billion won, GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo with 5.3 billion won, and CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun with $5 billion won.
 
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won was paid 1.8 billion won in the first half while Hyundai Motor Group Chair Euisun Chung earned 3.2 billion won.  
 
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has been refusing to take any salary since March 2017.
 
Kim Taek-jin, founder and CEO of NCSoft, saw his pay nearly cut to half from last year due to a smaller bonus. Kim in the first half was paid 5.8 billion won, a drop from 9.4 billion won a year ago. While he received nearly 1.2 billion won in salary, bonuses amounted to 4.6 billion won.  
 

BY HA SU-YOUNG, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
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