(Korea's richest man) Kim Beom-Su to become Korea's wealthiest person

Kakao's Board of Directors Chairman Kim Beom-su overtook Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to become the top wealthy person in Korea.

 

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Chairman Kim Bum-soo became the richest person in Korea with a net worth of $13.5 billion. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was second with a net worth of $12.3 billion.

 

 

 

Chairman Kim's fortune is said to have increased by more than $6 billion this year. The stock price of Kakao, listed on the domestic stock market, has risen more than 90% from the previous year until this month.

 

 

Bloomberg said, “This is an example of how self-made information technology (IT) entrepreneurs in Korea, dominated by large corporations, rise to the ranks of the rich.”

 

 

Born in 1966, Chairman Kim had a difficult childhood where his family of seven could not afford to live in an oriental medicine. He was the only one of his brothers to attend college, and he earned his tuition through tutoring.

 

 

He graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Seoul National University, and Chairman Kim, who founded iWeLab, the predecessor of Kakao, in 2006 launched KakaoTalk four years later. There are about 53 million KakaoTalk users worldwide.

 

 

Chairman Kim recently promised to donate more than half of his fortune by participating in the Giving Pledge, a voluntary donation campaign run by Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman.

 

At the time, Chairman Kim said, “I grew up in poverty until my 30s, so I thought that being rich was the only measure for a successful life.” explained