Founder Who Needed Loan Sharks Is Now Korea’s Second Richest
- Self-made tech entrepreneurs are among South Korea’s richest
- Families behind conglomerates have dropped in wealth ranking
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Seo Jung-jin used to borrow money from loan sharks, pledging his organs to get much needed funds for his upstart drugmaker. Now he’s the second-richest person in South Korea, trailing just Samsung Electronics Co.’s chairman.
The Celltrion Inc. founder’s fortune has swelled to $10 billion as shares of his company, which is developing a Covid-19 treatment, almost doubled this year.