Seoul, April 15
Female members of the owner families of South Korea's 20 largest business groups received more than 500 billion won ($351.5 million) in dividends last year, industry data showed on Tuesday.

A total of 577.9 billion won in dividends was paid to 101 female members of the families behind the top 20 conglomerates, down 7.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Seoul-based market tracker Leaders Index.

Leading the list were three women from Samsung Group, who together received a combined 409.4 billion won, reports Yonhap news agency.

Lee Boo-jin, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Samsung Group's hotel and retail affiliate Hotel Shilla, topped the list with 148.3 billion won in dividends.

Her mother Hong Ra-hee, director of the Leeum Museum of Art and widow of late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, came in second with 146.7 billion won.

Lee Seo-hyun, the president of Samsung C&T's fashion division and a sister of Lee Boo-jin, followed with 114.4 billion won.

LG Group's family members came next, taking a combined 38.3 billion won.

Kim Young-shik, widow of the late LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, received 20.5 billion won, while the rest went to her two daughters.

The SK Group family took a combined 33.8 billion won in dividends, followed by the DB Group family with 15.4 billion won and Shinsegae Group with 14.8 billion won.

Meanwhile, family members of owners of midsized companies in South Korea take less than four years on average to be promoted to executive management positions, a market tracker said last month.

A survey of the top 100 medium-sized businesses with total assets of less than 5 trillion won ($3.4 billion) each as of 2023 revealed that 101 out of 237 executives were members of the owning families, according to CEO Score.

These individuals began their careers at their family-run companies at the average age of 30.7 and were promoted to executive roles at 34.5.

In comparison, family members in large corporations reached executive positions slightly later, at the average age of 34.8, after joining their companies at 30.4.

Female members of major biz groups get $351.5 mn in dividends in 2024: Data