A signboard stands in front of a cake shop in Busan showing Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s visit in 2023. Photo by Tae-gyu Kim/UPI
BUSAN, Jan. 23 (UPI) — When Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited a fusion cake shop at a traditional market near Busan Station in late 2023, few would have expected the stop to turn into a lasting local attraction.
Since then, however, the store has become a must-visit destination. In fact, it still displays a large promotional sign at the entrance showing the chairman’s visit.
“People still ask what Chairman Lee ate in 2023 and tend to order the same cakes,” Shin Jae-yeon, an employee at the store, told UPI. “His visit continues to help our sales.”
Choi Hyun-jin, a housewife from Seoul, stopped by the traditional market in Busan to check out the cake shop. She bought the same item that Chairman Lee had eaten there.
“I hope I can become wealthier by eating this cake,” she said with a smile. “I know I will never be as rich as Chairman Lee, but I hope to receive some of that good energy and fortune.”
“I used to think of Chairman Lee as just a lucky heir to a major conglomerate, but lately he seems more like a capable and accomplished businessman,” she added.
Such sentiment appears to be spreading. Chairman Lee has increasingly come to be viewed as a leading figure in Korea Inc. as Samsung affiliates cruise well under his stewardship.
Included in such flourishing subsidiaries are the world’s top memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T, the country’s leading contractor.
In line with those solid results, their share prices have surged over the past year, boosting Chairman Lee’s personal wealth. He has a 1.45% stake in Samsung Electronics and 20.82% in Samsung C&T.
According to the business tracker CXO Institute on Thursday, Chairman Lee’s stock values have topped $20 billion to become the first South Korean businessman to cross the threshold. The previous record was $15.22 billion, held by his late father and former Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee.
“Chairman Lee’s wealth is expected to grow further as the AI boom fuels strong demand for semiconductors, benefiting Samsung Electronics,” CXO Institute chief Oh Il-sun said in a phone interview. “Government efforts to boost the stock market have also provided support.”
“Against this backdrop, it appears that more people recognize him as the definitive leader of the country’s No. 1 conglomerate,” he said.
Putting hardships behind
Chairman Lee’s path to the top was far from smooth. Born in 1968, he studied history at Seoul National University and later business administration at Keio University in Japan and Harvard University in the United States.
While he worked at Samsung in 2014, his father, then Chairman Lee Kun-hee, suddenly collapsed from a heart attack. Lee Jae-yong had to step in as the de facto leader of Samsung Group. His father passed away in 2020.
His challenges intensified in 2016 when he was embroiled in the political corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye. He was imprisoned twice and restored his business activities in 2022 following a presidential pardon.
Even after he returned to management, the struggle did not end as Samsung Electronics lagged behind its rival SK hynix in the lucrative high bandwidth memory (HBM) market, a key component in AI chips.
Although Samsung Electronics has long dominated the global memory sector, it fell behind SK hynix in securing early HBM supply deals.
In 2024 and 2025, however, Samsung Electronics managed to narrow the gap by working on next-generation HBM technologies with improved competitiveness, according to industry observers.
“It seems that many people believe Chairman Lee was excessively punished,” economic commentator Kim Kyeong-joon, formerly vice chairman at Deloitte Consulting Korea, said. “And no matter how much fans criticize a soccer player, once he scores a goal, they start cheering again,”
“In the same way, as Samsung delivers strong profits and investors see solid returns, public perception of Chairman Lee has grown more favorable. In business, performance often reshapes reputation,” he said.
As another reason for Chairman Lee’s improved reputation, Kim picked the military service of his only son. The junior Lee, who was born in the United States in 2000 with dual citizenship, renounced his U.S. citizenship and joined the South Korean Navy late last year.
“Compared with sons of many Korean business leaders, who allegedly seek to avoid military service, the junior Lee set an example,” Kim said. “In my view, that decision helped a lot to strengthen public respect for Chairman Lee and the Samsung family.”