Corona also changed the ranks of the business world… Hanjin, Naver, and Celltrion

In March of last year, Korean Air carried only cargo on passenger planes to target suspended routes to reduce costs and support domestic import and export companies. [사진 대한항공]

In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the asset rankings of large domestic companies have also changed. Hanjin, which acquired Asiana Airlines, is sure to re-enter the top 10 in the business world, and Naver, thanks to the growth of non-face-to-face services, rose to the top 30.

On the 10th, the company evaluation site CEO Score announced the estimated ranking of the asset size of 64 large companies designated by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). Based on the financial situation in the third quarter of last year, the fair assets of each company (the larger of the assets for non-financial companies and capital and capital for financial companies), mergers and acquisitions, and division of affiliates were considered. CEO Score said, “You will be able to get a glimpse of the rankings of conglomerates that the Fair Trade Commission will announce in May.”

CEO Score predicted that this year’s total assets of large corporations increased by 84.9889 billion won to 2261 trillion 896 billion won from last year. In addition, it was observed that the business ranks of 46 groups excluding 18 out of 64 groups will be different from last year.

Seoul Samsung Electronics Seocho office building in October last year [연합뉴스]

First of all, the rankings of the top seven groups, including the Samsung Group, are unlikely to change from last year. Samsung’s assets this year are expected to increase by 15,5690 billion won from last year to 440 trillion 417 billion won, maintaining the first place in the business world. The second place is expected to be the Hyundai Motor Group (243 trillion 6848 billion won), and the third place is the SK Group (232 trillion 36.9 billion won). An official from CEO Score explained, “In recent years, the forecast that the asset rankings of Hyundai Motor and SK will change, but the asset gap between the two companies has increased from 9,179.8 billion won last year to 11,647.9 billion won this year.”

The fourth place is LG Group (137 trillion 1981 billion won). Excluding assets such as LG International, LG Hausys, Silicon Works, and LG MMA, which are scheduled to be separated, fair assets increased by KRW 231.5 billion from last year. The assets of the newly-established LG holdings, which will be independent from LG, are KRW 7.628.6 billion, and they are newly entering the 52nd place in the corporate rankings this year. Lotte maintained the fifth place with an asset size of 120 trillion 87 trillion won, and POSCO (84,893 trillion won) and Hanwha (74 trillion 44.9 billion won) also ranked 6th and 7th respectively as in last year.

The total assets of these seven groups are 1332.701.2 billion won. It accounts for 58.9% of the total assets of 64 large corporate groups, and the proportion has decreased slightly (0.6% points) from last year.

Assets of major conglomerates in 2021. Graphic = Kim Hyun-seo [email protected]

The change in the business ranks took place among the largest companies below the eighth place. Hyundai Heavy Industries, which was ranked 9th last year, rose to 8th this year with an asset size of 69,673.5 billion won. With the acquisition of Doosan Infracore, new assets increased by 6.8 trillion won a year. GS Group (67.75 trillion won), which ranked 8th last year, increased its assets of 1.2.3 trillion won last year, but fell to 9th place after being pushed by Hyundai Heavy Industries. The Nonghyup maintained the 10th place with an asset size of 63,4791 billion won.

Hanjin (57,5853 billion won), who ranked 11th, climbed three steps from last year. This is because assets increased by 24,36.4 billion won from last year after the acquisition of Asiana Airlines. Hanjin’s asset size ranks ninth in terms of business groups with owners. In fact, it re-entered the top 10 in the business world. As Hanjin’s ranking rose, Shinsegae, KT, and CJ ranked 12-14 this year, pushing one step back from last year.

Naver headquarters in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do [연합뉴스]

Outside of the top 10, information and communication (IT) companies were also remarkable. This is because non-face-to-face services have expanded due to Corona 19. The asset ranking of Kakao (15,272 trillion won) rose from 23rd last year to 22nd this year, and Naver (10.53 trillion won) rose 7 places from 41st to 34th. Celltrion (13,8642 billion won) has an asset scale of more than 5 trillion won from last year, and its corporate group rankings soared from 45th to 25th. In order to establish Celltrion Healthcare Holdings, the scale of assets increased as the in-kind investment of Celltrion Healthcare stock held by Chairman Seo Jeong-jin.

On the other hand, Doosan Group’s asset size declined by 6,908.6 billion won from last year due to the sale of Doosan Infracore, and business rankings are expected to fall from 15th last year to 17th this year. In addition, Youngpoong (28th → 29th), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (29th → 31st), Kolon (33th → 36th), E-Land (36th → 39th), OCI (35th → 41st), Taeyoung (37th → 42nd) rankings are also expected to decline.

Reporter Kim Kyung-mi [email protected]