Stock plunge erodes rich shareholders' wealth

SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's wealthy stockholders took a blow from the local stock market's recent plummet, with owners of key conglomerates suffering the largest losses, data showed Sunday.
The local stock market plunged around 18 percent this month as investors dumped their holdings on fears sparked by the first-ever U.S. credit rating cut and persisting debt risks in the eurozone.
Owners of blue-chip exporters, such as automakers and technology companies, saw the steepest losses, according to the data by Chaebul.com, a conglomerate research firm.
Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the country's wealthiest stockholder, saw the value of his holdings drop 12 percent to 7.1 trillion won (US$6.5 billion) as of Aug. 19 from 8.1 trillion won on Aug. 5, according to the data.
No. 2 stockholder Chung Mong-koo, the chairman of the country's top automaker Hyundai Motor Group, also suffered losses, with his holdings slumping 10.7 percent over the two-week period to 6.6 trillion won.
His younger brother Chung Mong-joon, the top shareholder of No. 1 shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., saw the value of his holdings tumble 13.8 percent to 2.5 trillion won in the same period, the data showed.
In contrast, owners of domestic-focused conglomerates and venture firms saw gains in their stock values.
The value of SK Group chief Chey Tae-won's stock holdings jumped 5.1 percent to 3.3 trillion won and food conglomerate CJ Group head Lee Jay-hyun also saw his assets soar 16.1 percent to 1.2 trillion won in the cited period, according to the data.
Kim Taek-jin, the head of online game developer NCsoft Corp., saw his stock assets gain 9.9 percent to 1.9 trillion won in the two-week period, the data showed.
As of Aug. 19, there were 12 shareholders whose stock holdings exceeded 1 trillion won, down from 16 as of the end of March.