Lee vs Würth
Samsung Electronics and Würth Group.
The differences
- Forbes puts Reinhold Würth about $0.6B ahead of Jay Y. Lee.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 15 Oct 2026.
- Jay Y. Lee: inherited it. Reinhold Würth: inherited and grew it.
- Jay Y. Lee is from South Korea; Reinhold Würth is from Germany.
Put someone else on either side
Side by side
Lee
WürthThe money
- Net worth, Forbes
- $26.7BForbes, 15 Oct 2026
- $27.3BForbes, 9 Oct 2026
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $29.8BBloomberg, 12 Oct 2026
- Not stated
- Forbes rank
- No. 84Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- No. 89Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026
- Billionaire since
- Not stated
- Not stated
Where it came from
- How it started
- Inherited itSamsung was founded by his grandfather Lee Byung-chull in 1938; his stakes rose sharply when his father's shares were distributed to the heirs in 2021. He has been executive chairman of Samsung Electronics since 2022
- Inherited and grew itJoined his father Adolf's screw wholesaler in 1949 and took over its management in 1954, aged 19, after his father's death
- Main source
- Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T stockBloomberg names Samsung Electronics as his biggest asset
- Control of the Würth Group through family trustsBloomberg: the trusts are held in the name of his three children
- Companies
- Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&TSamsung Electronics: Executive chairman
- Würth GroupWürth Group: Honorary chairman of the supervisory board; chairman of the supervisory board of the Würth Group's family trusts
- Biggest stake
- Samsung C&T21.8% owned
- Würth GroupStake not stated
The person
- Born
- Not stated
- 20 Apr 1935Öhringen, Germany
- Country
- South KoreaLives in Seoul, South Korea
- GermanyLives in Künzelsau, Germany
- Education
- Not statedSeoul National University and Keio University; attended Harvard Business School without graduating
- No universityApprenticeship as a wholesale and retail merchant, completed 1952
- Parents
- Son of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, long South Korea's richest person, and Hong Ra-hee, a former director of Samsung's Leeum art museum
- Father Adolf Würth founded a screw wholesaler in 1945; mother Alma Würth co-founded the company
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Not a signer
- Not a signer
- Foundation
- Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation and Samsung Foundation of CultureHe was named head of both Samsung foundations in 2015, succeeding his father
- Würth FoundationEstablished with his wife Carmen Würth in 1987
- Lifetime giving
- Not stated
- Not stated
Role and record
- Role now
- Runs the companyExecutive chairman of Samsung Electronics
- On the boardHonorary chairman of the Würth Group's supervisory board; chairman of the supervisory board of its family trusts
- Successor
- None named; his sister Lee Seo-hyun became president of Samsung C&T in 2024 and his sister Lee Boo-jin is president and CEO of Hotel Shilla
- In 2025 he passed the baton to his grandchildren Benjamin, Sebastian and Maria Würth; his daughter Bettina chaired the advisory board from 2006
- Public office
- None found
- None found
- Legal record
- 2021: South Korean courtsSentenced in January 2021 to two and a half years in prison on bribery charges tied to the influence-peddling scandal around former President Park Geun-hye, after a 2017 arrest and a retrial; released early and pardoned by the president in August 2022.
- 2008: Heilbronn Local Court (Amtsgericht Heilbronn)A penalty order for tax evasion fined him and two company managers between 600 and 700 daily rates, which left him with a criminal record; the amount per daily rate was not disclosed.
