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A post by an employee who said he and his wife both work in Samsung Electronics’ (005930) semiconductor business, calculating that their combined future performance bonuses would exceed 3 billion won (about $2.1 million), has drawn wide attention online.
Samsung Electronics recently notified employees in its Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees the chip business, of the payment method and schedule for a special management performance bonus, industry sources said on the 8th.
The special bonus is scheduled to be paid between late March and early April, following approval at next year’s annual shareholders meeting. It will be paid in treasury shares after taxes and other deductions are withheld, with the 2027 tax year applied. One-third of the shares received can be sold immediately, while the remainder is restricted from sale for one year and two years respectively.
Employees Earning 80 Million Won May See Up to 750 Million Won, With Memory Division Leading
The Samsung Electronics branch of the Samsung Group Super Enterprise Labor Union calculated pretax expected bonus payouts for employees with annual salaries in the low 80 million won range, based on brokerage forecasts for this year’s operating profit, and found wide gaps by business unit.
The estimate came to about 750 million won for the Memory Business, about 530 million won for shared organizations, and about 240 million won for the System LSI and Foundry businesses. Actual payouts may differ depending on this year’s earnings and payout rates by business unit.
Blind Post Claiming More Than 3 Billion Won for Dual-Income Couple Goes Viral
After those projections emerged, a post on Blind, an anonymous workplace community, by an employee who said he works at Samsung Electronics drew attention.
The man, identified as A and in his early 30s, described himself by saying, “Getting into this company is the greatest achievement of my life,” adding, “I met my wife after coming to this company, and we’re a memory couple.” Both are believed to work in Samsung Electronics’ Memory Business.
A said the couple had already bought a home with money they saved together. “The two of us just worked for about five years and bought a house worth about 800 million won at the time, and now it’s worth about 1.2 billion won,” he said. “I’m taking out an in-house loan and preparing to trade up to a house in the high 1 billion won range.”
He said that rising home prices, combined with the bonuses he expects to receive, had changed the couple’s asset plans.
“When the two of us calculated the bonuses we’ll receive going forward, it came to at least 3 billion won, and it looks like we could quit the company within five years,” A said. “It’s surreal that I just studied moderately, came to a decent company and worked moderately, and ended up with billions of won.”
The 3 billion won figure A mentioned is his own estimate based on assumptions about future earnings and bonus levels, and is not a confirmed payout amount.
As the post spread online, commenters responded with messages such as “congratulations” and “I’m jealous.” Others criticized the public disclosure of bonus figures, saying “let’s take it quietly” and urging him to delete the post because it could needlessly worsen public sentiment.