"Made 1.2 Billion Won in a Day"... Chey Tae-won's Big Win After Donating 4.9 Billion Won to SK hynix

[Financial News] Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, booked more than 1.2 billion won in paper gains in less than a day after personally buying 4.9 billion won worth of shares to support SK hynix's stock price. The move, framed as responsible management amid a recent slump in semiconductor stocks, coincided with a strong rebound fueled by a tailwind for semiconductors from the United States.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) and the Korea Exchange on the 31st, Chey disclosed that he bought 3,620 common shares of SK hynix in the open market the previous day, the 30th. The average purchase price was about 1.353677 million won per share, bringing the total to roughly 4.9 billion won. This was the first time Chey had bought SK hynix shares in his personal name on the open market.
As SK hynix shares surged more than 27% intraday that day, reaching as high as 1.715 million won, the value of Chey's stake also jumped sharply. Based on the intraday high, the value of his holdings rose to about 6.2 billion won, leaving him with paper gains of roughly 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion won in just one day.
The purchase was made on the view that the stock had fallen too far, with the aim of restoring shareholder trust and carrying out responsible management. In fact, SK hynix shares had fallen by more than half from their peak last month of 2.987 million won and had extended losses for three straight trading sessions.
Market attention also focused on the fact that Chey kept the purchase amount below 5 billion won. Under the current Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, executives or major shareholders of listed companies must disclose a trading plan 30 days in advance if they buy or sell more than 5 billion won worth of their own shares. By moving quickly to buy at a low point while staying within the threshold that exempts him from prior disclosure, Chey helped ease market uncertainty.
The sharp rebound in SK hynix shares that day was also driven by semiconductor-positive news from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and foreign buying. After Microsoft reported strong earnings, easing skepticism over AI infrastructure investment, major U.S. semiconductor companies such as Micron and SanDisk Corporation surged, and foreign capital linked to that rally poured into the South Korean market.
Business circles and the securities industry are describing Chey's purchase as "a representative example of the management team's strong confidence in the business."
Earlier, at the Jeju Forum of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the 17th, Chey said, "Memory will continue to be used, and it will trend upward over the long term," adding, "Don't keep buying and selling shares; just hold on to them."

[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter