Bae Yong-joon becomes the stock-richest celebrity

Amid the rally of KOSDAQ market this year, celebrities` share values underwent a huge change. Bae Yong-joon, an actor who elevated Korean Wave to new levels, beat SM Entertainment head Lee Soo-man to become most stock-rich celebrity, while Han Sung-ho, CEO of FNC Entertainment that is home to idol groups CNBlue and FT Island, jumped to the fourth place.

According to corporate market researcher Chaebol.com on Tuesday, a record-high seven celebrities held more than 10 billion in stocks, based on Monday closing price of listed shares owned by celebrities.

YG Entertainment head Yang Hyun-suk ranked No. 1 in stock wealth, with the value of his stock in his company reaching 201.18 billion won (186 million U.S. dollars), up 5.7 percent from the beginning of the year. The major shareholder of his company KeyEast, Bae had a stock value of 138.41 billion won (128 million dollars), up 148 percent from 55.85 billion (51.67 million dollars) earlier this year. Lee was the most stock-rich celebrity until early last year, but fell to second early this year and then to third. Due to falling SM Entertainment stock prices, his stock value tumbled 11 percent to 138.36 billion won (128 million dollars) from the year`s beginning.

A former singer, Han listed FNC Entertainment, to which he was a major shareholder, on the KOSDAQ market late last year, becoming a stock rich worth more than 10 billion won (9.25 million dollars) early this year. The value of his stock in his company is now at 94.8 billion won (87.77 million dollars), up 74 percent from early this year.

Actress Kyun Mi-ri saw her stock value rise the most among celebrity stock rich. Her stock value is 12.01 billion won (11.11 million dollars), up 230 percent from early this year. She had participated in the new stock issuance of KOSDAQ-listed Bota Bio in November last year to become the major shareholder. Bota Bio stock prices have risen sharply since. Kyun`s daughter Lee Yu-bi and veteran actor Lee Soon-jae, who also participated in the company`s new stock issuance, saw their stock value rise 177 percent to become a stock rich worth more than 600 million won (555,092 dollars).

imsoo@donga.com