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As of September 2025, the executive chairman of Meritz Financial Group Cho Jung-ho was the wealthiest person in South Korea, with a net worth of about *** billion U.S. dollars. His net worth increased from *** billion U.S. dollars from the previous year when he rose from seventh to first place. Lee Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics, followed with about *** billion dollars.

Turbulent times for the wealthy

Despite the country's economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19, South Korea’s wealthiest people lost a significant amount of their net worth because of the poorly performing stock market and a weakened currency. Lee Jae-yong overcame the shrinking demand for tech goods and ranked as the wealthiest South Korean, although his net worth the year before was more than *** billion dollars higher. The founder of Kakao, Kim Beom-su, had the same net worth as Lee Jae-yong in 2022. However, he only placed fourth in 2023, losing more than **** billion dollars in net worth within the year. In October 2022, Kakao faced public outrage and criticism because of a service outage.

Conglomerates’ dominating position in the South Korean economy

  Although the collective wealth of the ** wealthiest people in South Korea fell by about ** percent, conglomerates dominated the market. Samsung Electronics had the highest market capitalization among business groups listed in South Korea, amounting to about *** trillion South Korean won. The position of the largest businesses represented a significant hurdle for start-ups. South Korea had a low survival rate for new companies compared to the OECD average, discouraging the emergence of new businesses. When asked about the most critical challenges, small- and medium-sized business owners answered that increasing revenue and attracting customers were the most difficult.