The top 100 companies in South Korea contributed over 1,731 trillion won to the economy last year. In line with the government's value-up policy, the scale of shareholder returns, including share buybacks, has surged, driving up corporate value.
On July 8, corporate data research firm CEO Score reported that the total economic contribution of these companies, which submitted business reports among the top 500 firms (excluding financial institutions and public enterprises), amounted to 1,731.6 trillion won last year, marking a 7.4% increase from the previous year’s 1,612.5 trillion won.
Economic contribution refers to the total economic value created by companies through their business activities and distributed to various stakeholders, including partners, employees, shareholders, and the government.
Last year, the total revenue of the top 100 companies reached 2,290.8 trillion won, an 8.3% growth compared to the previous year. However, the proportion of economic contribution relative to revenue slightly decreased to 75.6%, down 0.6 percentage points from 76.2% the previous year.
In the company-specific analysis, Samsung Electronics showed the highest contribution, with an economic contribution of 177.2 trillion won, a 12.5% increase from the previous year, solidifying its top position.
Hyundai Motor ranked second with 122.2 trillion won, followed by Kia (92.1 trillion won), LG Electronics (77.1 trillion won), and Hyundai Mobis (56.2 trillion won).
Battery manufacturer SK On ranked sixth with 52.3 trillion won, while Hanwha (44.9 trillion won), SK Hynix (43.6 trillion won), GS Caltex (42.8 trillion won), and SK Energy (37.3 trillion won) also made the top ten.
Examining the distribution of economic contributions, the category of 'partner sales and support' accounted for 1,405.7 trillion won, or 81.2% of the total. This was followed by employee salaries (226.6 trillion won), shareholder returns (41.9 trillion won), government taxes (30.6 trillion won), creditor interest (24.9 trillion won), and social contribution donations (1.4 trillion won).
Notably, the shareholder return segment saw significant growth. This surge is attributed to the government's focus on boosting stock prices and enhancing shareholder value.
In the shareholder return category, dividend payments increased by 12.1% to 30.7 trillion won from 27.3 trillion won the previous year. Particularly, the scale of share buybacks, which directly impacts stock prices, skyrocketed by 160.5% to 11.2 trillion won from 4.3 trillion won the previous year.
Samsung Electronics stood out in shareholder returns as well, allocating a total of 14.2 trillion won to shareholder returns, including 11.1 trillion won in dividends and 3.5 trillion won in share buybacks.
Among the companies surveyed, Samsung Electronics was the only firm to spend over 10 trillion won solely on shareholder returns.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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