Tycoons wield excessive power; Panel says chaebol families' voting rights 4 times stockholding.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Kim Ji-ho The families controlling Korea's four largest conglomerates, or chaebol, wield four times greater power than their real stakes allow, the state antitrust panel reported yesterday.

According to the Fair Trade Commission, families who head the top four industrial groups - Samsung, LG, SK and Hyundai Motor - possess only 8.7 percent of group affiliates' outstanding shares on average. However, they exercise voting rights equivalent to as much as 35.03 percent of the total stake, the commission said, quoting a report from the Korea Development Institute.

The state-run think tank analyzed the corporate governance of 37 major chaebol and its final report will soon be submitted to the antitrust body to help it formulate market reform policies for the next three years.

The latest analysis showed that of the four business giants, the family that founded Samsung Group maintains the largest gap between its controlling power and actual stake holdings.

Samsung's controlling family, led by Lee Kun-hee, wields as much voting power as the holders of a 29.7-percent stake, while owning merely 6.8 percent of ...