Thousands of Parents Put Blue-Chip Stocks in Kids' Names

Published on 2019/10/06 | Source

Some 260,000 children nominally owned W1.73 trillion worth of shares in listed companies last year (US$1=W1,199).

Bareunmirae Party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong on Sunday said the number of minors who owned stakes in listed Korean companies rose by 47,000 from the end of 2017, and the rate of increase doubled over that period.

Some 59,777 of the little tycoons were under seven, 89,492 between seven and 12, and 110,793 between 13 and 18. Samsung Electronics had the largest number of underage shareholders with 15,017.

The main reason is probably that parents are trying to avoid paying tax by putting their investments in their children's names.