A Seoul court on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won ($640 million) in a divorce case that has cast a spotlight on the billionaire's stake in the nation's second-largest conglomerate. Although the amount is lower than the 1.38 trillion won awarded by an appeals court in 2024, it remains the largest divorce settlement ever ordered in South Korea. The dispute has become one of South Korea's highest-profile legal cases because it involves one of the country's largest family-controlled conglomerates, with Chey and Roh married for 35 years before their relationship collapsed after Chey publicly admitted to fathering a child with another woman. The ruling, handed down on July 24, 2026, brings closure to a legal saga that has captivated South Korea for over a decade, with the case involving forced separation in 2011 and Chey's public divorce filing in 2015.
The court ultimately chose April 16, 2024 as the formal valuation point for Chey's assets, avoiding the AI boom that dramatically increased SK Hynix's value. Judges specifically acknowledged that subsequent increases in SK Group's value reflected Chey's management contribution, stating that "although the stock price rose significantly, it cannot be said that Chey's managerial contribution had no effect on that rise." The court awarded Roh one-third of the marital estate, down from the 35% share granted in the earlier appeals ruling, citing the difficulty of concluding that all profits or losses from share disposal after divorce must be shared with the former spouse. Fund managers and analysts indicated that the settlement may require Chey to sell shares in units of SK Group or use them as collateral to raise funds for payment, though this could impact his personal wealth while being unlikely to affect the conglomerate's management control. The door remains open for further appeals, with the case involving mediation attempts that failed on June 15, 2026, pushing the case back into formal trial proceedings.
Chey's wealth is primarily tied to his position as the largest shareholder of SK, which holds a 32% stake in the chipmaker's top shareholder, SK Square. According to Business Standard, SK Group's chip affiliate, SK Hynix, has become a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used with Nvidia's AI processors. Chey holds a 17.9% stake in SK Inc., the group's holding company, and his wealth is estimated at $5.4 billion according to Forbes. The core of the dispute revolves around Chey's controlling interest in SK Inc., the holding company atop SK Group's sprawling conglomerate structure. Chey's controlling stake in SK Inc. is what gives him authority over a business empire spanning semiconductors, telecommunications, energy, and logistics. Any forced disposition of shares as part of a settlement could theoretically alter the balance of power within the group, though the latest ruling orders a cash payment rather than a share transfer.
The ruling has renewed attention on SK Hynix's AI-driven growth as demand for advanced memory chips continues to accelerate globally. As reported by Reuters, the court's decision to preserve Chey's ownership structure has largely removed fears of an immediate disruption to the management of one of the world's most strategically important chip suppliers. While the divorce settlement represents one of the largest personal financial awards in South Korean history, analysts believe the ruling makes a loss of management control considerably less likely. The court specifically cited the importance of preserving management stability at SK Group, meaning Chey may still need to raise funds through borrowing or pledging shares as collateral, but the ruling removes the biggest near-term fear of forced share transfers that could destabilize the conglomerate. SK Hynix is one of only three companies in the world, alongside Samsung and Micron, capable of manufacturing cutting-edge HBM chips at scale, with the company's fundamentals driven by insatiable appetite for HBM from the likes of NVIDIA and AMD.
