As Shares Plummet, Some Samsung Electronics Employees Hope for Even Further Declines

On a day when Samsung Electronics shares plunged more than 9%, some employees drew attention by posting online that they were actually hoping for further declines.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 15th, Samsung Electronics closed at 210,000 won, down 9.48% from the previous session. The stock has tumbled 43.9% from its June peak of 374,500 won, shedding 66,000 won (24%) in just the past seven trading days. The decline came as China's CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies) expanded capacity and supply, concerns mounted over a funding bottleneck for AI infrastructure investment, and US tech and semiconductor stocks weakened.

On Blind, an anonymous community for office workers, numerous users verified as Samsung Electronics employees posted messages welcoming the stock's decline in the company's forum. Employee A wrote, "Please let the stock fall to 100,000 won," while Employee B posted that it is better to receive the performance bonus when the stock price is at its low.

These hopes stem from the structure of the special management performance bonus (OPI2), to be paid next year. On the 7th, Samsung Electronics' DS (Device Solutions) division announced the detailed criteria and payment schedule for the special bonus, with payouts based on this year's results to be made in late March to early April next year. The pool is set at 10.5% of the DS division's operating profit this year, with the remainder after tax and insurance deductions paid out in the company's own shares.

The key is that the number of shares is calculated based on the stock price at the time of payment. While the value at payment is the same, if the stock price rebounds afterward, employees who received more shares stand to gain a larger paper profit.

Based on brokerages' forecasts for the DS division's operating profit this year, the Samsung Electronics branch of the初创 KPTU union estimated that employees earning in the low 80-million-won range would receive roughly 750 million won before taxes in the memory business unit, about 530 million won in shared functions, and approximately 240 million won in the System LSI and foundry business units, including the existing excess profit-sharing bonus (OPI). One-third of the awarded shares can be sold immediately, while the remainder is subject to sale restrictions of one and two years, respectively.