Samsung’s Jay Y. Lee Is Korea’s Richest Person For The First Time

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Korea’s Richest 2024. See the full list here.

An AI-fueled boom drove up shares of Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the Samsung Group and the world’s largest memory chipmaker by revenue, propelling executive chairman Jay Y. Lee to the top spot on the list for the first time.

Lee attains this coveted position four years after the death of his father, Lee Kun-hee, the legendary group chairman, who was Korea’s richest person every year from the inaugural ranking in 2005. The patriarch ceded the spot only once in 2008 to Hyundai scion Chung Mong-joon (now at No. 29).

In February, Lee got a reprieve in his years-long legal battle, when a Seoul district court acquitted him on charges of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud tied to a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates that allegedly helped him secure control of Samsung Electronics.

While Lee has denied any wrongdoing, prosecutors have appealed his acquittal. In 2022, Lee received a presidential pardon that cleared a 2017 conviction for bribery from his record.