Seoul, Feb 18 (IANS) Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it has decided to cancel 3 trillion won ($2.01 billion) worth of treasury stocks as part of its buyback plan to enhance shareholder value.
Around 50.1 million common stocks and 6.9 million preferred shares will be retired, according to the company in a regulatory filing.
Samsung Electronics said the cancellation follows the decision made at a board meeting in November to repurchase its own shares worth a combined 10 trillion won over the ensuing year, reports Yonhap news agency.
As a first step, it said it was planning to buy back 3 trillion won of shares within three months and cancel all of them.
By reducing the total number of outstanding shares, the company aims to boost earnings per share and support its stock price, ultimately benefiting investors.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong received the largest amount of dividends in South Korea last year, a corporate data tracker said on Tuesday.
Leaders Index surveyed 560 companies, which provided dividends in the form of cash and cash equivalents to their shareholders in 2024 to count up their overall dividends.
The 560 firms provided a total of 40.7 trillion won (US$28.2 billion) in dividends to their shareholders last year, up 10.4 per cent from a year earlier, the survey showed.
Lee received 346.5 billion won in dividends last year, up 7.1 per cent from a year ago.
Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his only son, Euisun Chung, executive chair of the group, ranked second and third, respectively, with dividends of 189.2 billion won and 174.7 billion won.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won ranked seventh with an annual dividend of 91 billion won.
Among the surveyed companies, 285 companies provided more dividends last year, 94 firms maintained the same dividend levels compared with 2023, and 181 firms cut them.
SK hynix, a key affiliate of SK Group, nearly doubled its dividends after reporting record earnings results last year on higher demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.