[비즈한국] Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics005930, Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla008770, and Lee Seo-hyun, President of Samsung C&T028260, who are the children of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, are all actively engaged in management. Their business performance last year was not bad, but some analysts suggest it fell short of expectations.
Samsung Electronics: Record Earnings Amid Worsening Labor Relations
Chairman Lee Jae-yong's performance report card last year was solid. Samsung Electronics' revenue rose 10.88% from 300.8789 trillion won in 2024 to 333.6059 trillion won in 2025, and operating profit increased 33.23% from 32.726 trillion won to 43.6011 trillion won during the same period. Samsung Electronics' revenue last year set an all-time record.
Nevertheless, there are voices of disappointment regarding Samsung Electronics due to the presence of SK Hynix000660. SK Hynix's operating profit last year reached 47.2063 trillion won, surpassing that of Samsung Electronics. This marks the first time SK Hynix has outperformed Samsung Electronics in annual operating profit. SK Hynix set employee performance bonuses at 2964% of their base salary (1/20th of their annual salary). An SK Hynix employee with an annual salary of 100 million won would receive 148.2 million won in bonuses alone. Samsung Electronics set its bonuses at approximately 43-50% of annual salary depending on the department. While Samsung Electronics employees also receive significant bonuses, they are not comparable to those at SK Hynix.
As a result, labor-management relations at Samsung Electronics remain strained despite the strong performance. Samsung Electronics' labor and management recently entered into wage and collective agreement negotiations, where the joint negotiation group is reportedly demanding the abolition of the 50% of annual salary cap on over-profit performance bonuses. There are several labor unions within Samsung Electronics, including the Samsung Group Super-Enterprise Labor Union's Samsung Electronics Branch, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, and the Samsung Electronics Labor Union Solidarity. They recently formed a joint negotiation group for the labor-management talks (Related Article: "United by Performance Bonus Conflict?" Countdown to the First 'Majority Union' at Samsung Electronics).
The securities industry expects Samsung Electronics to regain its lead over SK Hynix in terms of operating profit this year. The reason for the positive outlook is the 6th-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4). Samsung Electronics announced on the 12th that it had begun mass production and shipment of HBM4 for the first time in the world. While SK Hynix is also expected to begin mass production of HBM4 soon, Samsung Electronics has at least taken the lead.
Still, Samsung Electronics remains vigilant. While announcing its performance last year, the company stated, "In 2026, various risks such as global tariffs and geopolitical uncertainties are expected to persist," adding, "We plan to preoccupy the AI semiconductor market by leveraging our strengths as the world's only semiconductor company capable of a 'one-stop solution' that includes logic, memory, foundry, and packaging."
Hotel Shilla: Improved Performance, but Lacking Expectations
President Lee Boo-jin's Hotel Shilla also succeeded in improving its performance last year. Lee has served as President of Hotel Shilla since 2010. Hotel Shilla's revenue increased 3.06% from 3.9746 trillion won in 2024 to 4.0683 trillion won in 2025. While Hotel Shilla recorded an operating loss of 5.2 billion won in 2024, it turned a profit of 13.5 billion won in 2025.
However, analysts in the securities industry suggest that Hotel Shilla's performance fell short of expectations. Initially, the industry expected an operating profit in the 20 billion won range. The prospect was that Hotel Shilla would benefit from the government's decision to allow visa-free group tourism for Chinese citizens last year.
The disappointing operating profit is attributed to the duty-free sector. Bae Sang-yoon, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, analyzed, "Profits in the duty-free division worsened due to increased rental costs and one-off expenses. Rental costs increased across the board both domestically and abroad due to the rise in airport passengers, and one-off costs are estimated to be around 10 billion won, related to the closure of Macau operations and the deferral of overseas duty-free shop rental reductions."
A Hotel Shilla official stated, "The duty-free sector continues to face a difficult market, but we are making multi-faceted efforts to improve management efficiency. We will expand consignment operations based on our competitiveness in brands, products, and services in the hotel sector, and based on this, we will continue to improve our performance."
Samsung C&T: Increased Operating Profit, But Decreased Revenue
President Lee Seo-hyun was appointed President of Samsung C&T in 2015 and stepped down in 2018. She returned to management in April 2024 as President of Strategic Planning for Samsung C&T. As she joined in the middle of 2024, 2025 is effectively considered her first performance report card since her return.
Samsung C&T's revenue decreased 3.23% from 42.1032 trillion won in 2024 to 40.7422 trillion won in 2025. During the same period, operating profit increased 10.37% from 2.9834 trillion won to 3.2927 trillion won. While operating profit rose, it is difficult to call it a strong performance considering the decline in revenue.
Samsung C&T's business divisions are divided into Construction, Trading, Fashion, and Resorts. A key factor was the construction division's revenue, which fell by over 4 trillion won from 18.655 trillion won in 2024 to 14.148 trillion won in 2025. Samsung C&T explained, "The scale of revenue and operating profit decreased as large-scale projects, including high-tech facilities, reached the completion stage."
Expectations for Samsung C&T's construction division are high this year. This is because the government is showing a positive attitude toward nuclear power projects. Samsung C&T has built numerous nuclear power plants domestically and has substantial competitiveness, such as participating in the UAE nuclear power project.
Song Yu-rim, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities, commented on Samsung C&T, "It is impressive that the nuclear power momentum is consistently becoming visible. The fact that the order pipeline is expected to continue expanding, such as new large-scale nuclear power plants through cooperation with Team Korea and global players, in addition to the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) projects currently being pursued, is a very positive factor."