Cho is the chairman of Meritz Financial Group, a provider of insurance and asset management services in South Korea. The Seoul-based company is publicly traded and had 116 trillion South Korean won ($78.2 billion) assets as of Dec. 31, 2024. Meritz Financial was spun-off from Hanjin Group, a conglomerate founded by Cho's father.
The majority of Cho's fortune is derived from his stake in Meritz Financial Group, the holding company for five subsidiaries including Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities.
Cho owns 56% of the company directly and with his daughter Cho Hyo-Jae, according to the company's November 2025 filing.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Cho Ji-Hoon, a spokesperson for the company, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Cho was born in October 1958. His father was Cho Choong-Hoon, founder of Hanjin Group -- a family-controlled chaebol in South Korea. The older Cho founded Hanjin Transportation in 1945 with a single truck in Inchon, a port city bordering Seoul.
The company transported military supplies to the US army based in Korea during the Korean war and later expanded to international freight. Korean Air, a flagship company of Hanjin Group, was established in 1969 after an acquisition of the state-owned Korean Airlines.
In 1989, the younger Cho returned to South Korea after studying at the University of Southern California. He took up a director role in Hanjin Investment & Securities, the company which was later renamed to Meritz Financial. Cho took over the financial business in May 1997.
In 2006, Meritz affiliates completed spin-offs from Hanjin Group. Meritz Financial Group was listed in the South Korean stock exchange in May 2011.