Lee Kun-hee

Entrepreneur

Lee Kun-hee was born in Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea on January 9th, 1942 and is the Entrepreneur. At the age of 78, Lee Kun-hee biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

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Date of Birth
January 9, 1942
Nationality
South Korea
Place of Birth
Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea
Death Date
Oct 25, 2020 (age 78)
Zodiac Sign
Capricorn
Networth
$20 Billion
Profession
Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Industrialist
Lee Kun-hee Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 78 years old, Lee Kun-hee physical status not available right now. We will update Lee Kun-hee's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Height
Not Available
Weight
Not Available
Hair Color
Not Available
Eye Color
Not Available
Build
Not Available
Measurements
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Lee Kun-hee Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Waseda University (BS), George Washington University (MBA)
Lee Kun-hee Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Hong Ra-hee
Children
Lee Jae-yong, Lee Boo-jin, Lee Seo-hyun, Lee Yoon-hyung
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Lee Byung-chul (1910–1987), Park Du-eul (1907–2000)
Siblings
Lee Myung-hee (sister)
Lee Kun-hee Life

Lee Kun-hee (Korean: 이건희; born January 9, 1942) is a South Korean business magnate and the chairman of Samsung Group.

In 1996, Lee became a member of the International Olympic Committee.

With an estimated family net worth of $ 40.8 billion, he and his family rank among the Forbes richest people in the world.

He is the third son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.He resigned in April 2008, owing to a Samsung slush funds scandal, but returned on March 24, 2010.

In May 2014, he was hospitalized for a heart attack.

In 2014, Lee was named the world's 35th most powerful person and the most powerful Korean by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People along with his son Lee Jae-yong.

Early life

Lee Kun-hee was born on 9 January 1942 in Daegu, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. He was the third son of Lee Byung-chul, the founder of the Samsung group, which was set up as an exporter of fruit and dried fish. He went on to get a degree in economics from Waseda University, a private university in Japan. He studied for a masters program in business from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., but did not get a degree.

Personal life

Lee Kun-hee was married to Hong Ra-hee until his death. Hong is the daughter of Hong Jin-ki, the former chairman of the JoongAng Ilbo and Tongyang Broadcasting Company.

His siblings and some of their children are also executives of major Korean business groups. Lee Boo-jin, his eldest daughter, is president and CEO of Hotel Shilla, a luxury hotel chain, as well as president of Everland Resort, a theme park and resort operator that is "widely seen as the de facto holding company for the conglomerate" according to the Associated Press.

Lee had four children: the eldest child and the only son, Lee Jae-yong (born 1968), and three daughters, Lee Boo-jin (born 1970), Lee Seo-hyun (born 1973), and Lee Yoon-hyung (1979–2005) who died by suicide.

Lee's older brother Lee Maeng-hee and older sister Lee Sook-hee initiated legal action against him in February 2012, asking a South Korean court to award them shares of Samsung companies totaling US$850 million (913.563 billion won), which they claim their father willed to them. Court hearings began in May 2012. On 6 February 2014, courts in South Korea dismissed the case.

Lee was treated for lung cancer in the late 1990s and was tested again for cancer in 2005, at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas, with no subsequent concerns being announced. He was hospitalized in Seoul in May 2014 after suffering a heart attack, and lapsed into a coma, which he remained in until his death on 25 October 2020, at the age of 78.

The heirs to the late Lee announced in the Spring of 2021 that the businessman’s multibillion-dollar collection of more than 23,000 works of art would be dispersed throughout public institutions in South Korea. Contrary to this announcement, the country’s minister of culture, sports, and tourism, Hwang Hee, announced plans to build a new museum dedicated to the Lee collection.

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Lee Kun-hee Career

Career

Lee joined the Samsung Group in 1966 with the Tongyang Broadcasting Company, and later went on to work for Samsung's construction and trading company.

He took over the chairmanship of the conglomerate on 24 December 1987, two weeks after the death of his father, Lee Byung-chul. In 1993, believing that Samsung Group was overly focused on producing large quantities of low-quality goods and was not prepared to compete in quality, Lee famously said, "Change everything except your wife and kids". This call was an attempt to drive innovation at the company and to face up to the competition at that time from rivals like Sony Corporation. In a declaration now known as the 'Frankfurt Declaration', he had his executives gather in the German city in 1993 and called for a change in the company's approach to quality, even if it meant lower sales. The company went on to become the largest manufacturer of televisions, outpacing Sony corporation in 2006.

Lee was convicted for having paid bribes to president Roh Tae-woo in 1996. He was subsequently pardoned by president Kim Young-sam.

On 14 January 2008, Korean police raided Lee's home and office in an ongoing probe into accusations that Samsung was responsible for a slush fund used to bribe influential prosecutors, judges, and political figures in South Korea. On 4 April 2008, Lee denied allegations against him in the scandal. After a second round of questioning by the South Korean prosecutors, on 11 April 2008, Lee was quoted by reporters as saying, "I am responsible for everything. I will assume full moral and legal responsibility.” On 21 April 2008, he resigned and stated: "We, including myself, have caused troubles to the nation with the special probe; I deeply apologize for that, and I'll take full responsibility for everything, both legally and morally."

On 16 July 2008, The New York Times reported the Seoul Central District Court had found Lee guilty on charges of financial wrongdoing and tax evasion. Prosecutors requested that Lee be sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 350 billion won (approximately US$312 million). The court fined him 110 billion won (approximately US$98 million) and gave him a three-years suspended sentence. However, on 29 December 2009, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak pardoned Lee, stating that the intent of the pardon was to allow Lee to remain on the International Olympic Committee. In Lee Myung-bak's corruption trial, this pardon was revealed to have been in exchange for bribes; further bribery and other political corruption between former President Lee and Lee Kun-hee was also exposed.

Think Samsung, a 2010 book by Kim Yong-chul, former Samsung legal counsel, alleged that Lee was guilty of corruption. In particular, it claimed that he stole up to 10 trillion won (approximately US$8.9 billion) from Samsung subsidiaries, tampered with evidence, and bribed government officials to guarantee his son would succeed him.

On 24 March 2010, Lee announced his return to Samsung Electronics as its chairman. He continued in this position until 2014, when he suffered an incapacitating heart attack and his son, Lee Jae-yong, became the Samsung group's de facto leader. He is credited with having transformed Samsung into the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones, televisions, and memory chips. At the time of his death, the company was worth US$300 billion, and with an estimated net worth US$20.7 billion per Bloomberg's billionaire index, he was the richest person in South Korea; a position that he had held since 2007.

Following his death, Lee's heirs are expected to face an estate tax of around US$10 billion, which might potentially result in dilution of the family's stake in the conglomerate. This stems from South Korea's high estate tax of 50% for estates larger than US$3 billion, which is second only to Japan, amongst the OECD countries.

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