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The Samsung Electronics Chairman, Jay Y. Lee, is planning to sell a part of his shares in the technology conglomerate, estimated to be worth approximately 1.73 trillion won ($1.22 billion) of Samsung. The move is made when Samsung stock is on a robust upward trend, as there is some hope in the semiconductor market across the globe.
The sale consists of 17.7 million shares, or about 0.3% of the total shares of Samsung Electronics, according to a regulatory filing that Samsung Electronics filed with the Korea Exchange late Friday. The sellers are the mother of Jay Y. Lee, named Hong Ra-hee, and his sisters, Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun. The filing said that the transaction proceeds will be tax paid and loan settlements.
Shinhan Bank will manage the sale, and it is planned to be completed by April 2026 through a trust agreement. The repositioning is one of the most significant family business sales since the death of the previous chairman of the company, Lee Kun-hee, in 2020.
Analysts in the industry view the sale as one of the family's attempts to mitigate high inheritance taxes, estimated to be approximately 12 trillion won upon the passing of Lee Kun-hee. The family has been gradually reorganizing its assets to make such tax payments without compromising its influence in the company.
According to Park Ju-gun, the leader of the corporate analysis company Leaders Index, Samsung has a 10 trillion won share buyback program in 2024 as a means of maintaining its stock value during this period of transition. He said the existing sale is in line with previous attempts to raise liquidity and meet the family's financial obligations.
Shares of Samsung Electronics have increased by over 84% this year, as demand for high-performance chips remains strong. On Friday, the stock gained 0.2% to close at 97,900 won, nearing the 100,000-won level that retail investors have been targeting.
Recent deals with chip suppliers to Tesla and OpenAI have contributed to the rally, and it is anticipated that Samsung may become a supplier of advanced high-bandwidth memory products to Nvidia in the near future. Such advancements have made Samsung one of the leaders in the world in terms of AI chip development, which further supports the expectation of long-term growth.
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