[서울신문] Samsung’s unenviable Naver and Kakao salary… The executive-employee gap is a’fire of conflict’

Information technology (IT) companies with an average annual salary of over 100 million won are appearing one after another. This is thanks to the’non-face-to-face fever’ caused by Corona 19.

According to the industry on the 21st, Naver, Kakao, and NCsoft were the first to be listed on the average annual salary of employees of ‘100 million won club’ last year. Kakao recorded the highest number among IT companies in Pangyo and Bundang, which is called the’Silicon Valley of Korea’, with KRW 108 million. NC followed it with KRW 14.49 million and Naver with KRW 12.47 million. All three companies had an average annual salary in the range of 80 million won in 2019, which is a huge increase by 20-30%. SK Telecom’s average annual salary increased by 4.3% last year to 119 million won, exceeding 100 million won for eight consecutive years. Samsung Electronics, a traditional IT powerhouse, kept the industry’s highest level of treatment with 127 million won. As of 2019, the top 500 companies in Korea with annual salaries of more than 100 million were 33, mainly in the financial holding, securities, and petrochemical industries, but now IT companies have emerged as a representative high-paying industry.

Last year’s IT companies’ record-breaking performances played a decisive role in raising salaries. Naver’s operating profit rose 5.2% from 2019, Kakao’s 120.5%, and NC’s 72%, breaking the record high. SK Telecom’s operating profit last year was not the highest ever, but increased 21.8% from the previous year.

These companies, which had good results, raised the salaries of their existing employees and recruited experienced workers from time to time. Experienced jobs entering these companies have increased their average value significantly because they are often hired at higher ransom rates than their original jobs. In particular, there are 700 new employees who joined Naver last year, which is known to be twice the number of the previous year.

However, even inside IT companies, the growing gap in salary between executives and employees is likely to serve as a’fire of conflict’. Last year, CEO Han Sung-sook, Global Investment Manager Hae-jin Lee (GIO), and five key Naver executives, excluding stock options (stock options), amounted to 12.6 billion won. This is an increase of 55% from 81.87 billion won in 2019. The annual salary of Naver executives and employees listed in the business report is deducted from the earned income tax in 2019 (84.55 million won), and in 2020 (12.47 million won) before deduction, so it is difficult to compare simply, but the salary increase of Naver executives is much steeper. Regarding the fact that the union pointed out a problem with incentives last month, it is known that internal dissatisfaction has been amplified as executives’ salaries have risen relatively significantly, even though the system has not yet been improved.

In SK Telecom, another company that was controversial in performance pay, the remuneration of CEO Park Jeong-ho, which was 4.531 billion won in 2019, increased 62% to 7.38 billion won last year. NC CEO Kim Taek-jin’s remuneration, which was estimated to be 18.41 billion won, up 95% last year from 9.45 billion won in 2019, has risen to the highest level in the entire business world beyond the IT industry. In Kakao, joint representatives Yeo Min-su and Cho Soo-yong paid 6.4 billion won and 3.4 billion won, respectively.

An industry official said, “Because the non-face-to-face industry is still growing, more IT companies will join the ‘100 million club’ next year.” It can be.”

Reporter Jaehee Han [email protected]