[비즈한국] Following the public disclosure of assets for high-ranking government officials on the 27th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s bold stock investment portfolio is drawing attention. This is because he achieved high returns by aggressively investing in U.S. stocks while the domestic stock market struggled last year. The value of stocks held by Mayor Oh Se-hoon and his spouse increased from 400 million won to 2.9 billion won in just one year. While Mayor Oh stated that he focused on U.S. stocks because domestic stock trading is difficult under the Public Service Ethics Act, industry experts suggest he successfully rode the "major growth themes of last year."
Turning 400 Million Won into 2.9 Billion Won?
The primary investment target for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who declared 2.9 billion won in stock holdings with his spouse, was cryptocurrency-related stocks. Mayor Oh, who holds 1 billion won in this sector, invested nearly half of his portfolio in MicroStrategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy owns 506,137 Bitcoins, making it the company that has purchased the most Bitcoin globally, and its share price naturally moves in tandem with Bitcoin prices.
Beyond this, he held a diverse range of stocks including Nvidia (220 million won, 20%), IonQ (160 million won, 15%), and Palantir Technologies (140 million won, 14%). It is notable that these were the stocks that led the U.S. stock market last year. In just one year, MicroStrategy surged 358%, IonQ 237%, Nvidia 171%, and Palantir Technologies 340%, with the gains being even higher if purchased at the end of 2023.
Mayor Oh’s spouse, who holds the remainder, showed a similar investment pattern. She held the same stocks—Nvidia, Palantir, and IonQ—along with Tesla and Rigetti Computing. They specifically targeted and invested large sums into companies that led the U.S. stock market rise last year, covering AI (Nvidia, Palantir), quantum computing (IonQ, Rigetti Computing), defense (Palantir), and cryptocurrency (MicroStrategy).
This is where critics note that the regulations which make domestic stock investment difficult due to "conflicts of interest" actually worked to his "advantage." After the asset disclosure, Mayor Oh said at the ‘Seoul MZ Public Official Young-Tech Lecture’, "I hope you find ways to grow your assets even amidst your small salaries." Regarding his investment secrets, he advised, "I invested long-term in blue-chip stocks like the 'Magnificent 7' (Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla), which are U.S. tech stocks. Based on my successful experience of holding and letting it grow without constantly buying and selling, long-term investment in blue-chip stocks is advantageous for stocks."
Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung Also Profits from U.S. Investments
Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung also saw success. The couple showed a similar investment pattern. Prosecutor General Shim reported that his spouse newly purchased tech stocks, including 3,174 shares of Nvidia, 2,382 shares of TSMC, 1,442 shares of Microsoft, 1,336 shares of Amazon, 738 shares of Vistra Energy, and 235 shares of MicroStrategy. However, they sold all 1,800 shares of Apple they previously held. Thanks to this, the value of their stock holdings more than doubled from 2.1 billion won to 4.6 billion won.
The number of high-ranking officials with a high proportion of domestic stocks showed a downward trend. Lee Se-woong, Governor of North Pyongan Province of the Committee for the Five Northern Provinces, reported 104.7 billion won—the highest amount among the 2,047 public officials subject to asset disclosure—but his assets decreased by 17.8 billion won over the year. This was due to the decline in the value of his stocks.
Governor Lee’s portfolio was composed mainly of traditional large-cap domestic stocks and holding companies such as GS007890, LG003550, LG Electronics066570, LX Holdings, SK, Kia000270, Daewoo E&C, Korean Air, Samsung Electronics005930, and Hanjin KAL. While their valuation reached 66.6 billion won at the end of 2023, the value fell to 49.2 billion won within a year.