Samsung Players Hit Championship Bonus Jackpot

A salary in the 100 million won range is the dream of everyone who works for a living. But to receive over 100 million won in pure bonuses, on top of a full salary?

Just such a “shower of money” is what the players of the Samsung Lions, who took the championship title in the Korean Series, will be enjoying. An average Samsung player is set to receive a salary of 100 million won and an additional bonus of another 100 million.

The affluent Samsung Lions have already spent a total of 4,976,000,000 won in player contracts alone. This comes to 110,580,000 won per player.

But with the team’s easy victory in the postseason, it seems probable that an A-level player will be eligible to receive well over 100 million won in bonuses.

The prize money for winning the Korean Series amounts to roughly 700 million won. A full half of 1.4 billion won—the remainder of the 2.396 billion won earned in ticket sales from the sub-playoffs through the Korean Series after 40 percent is deducted in expenses—falls into the hands of the series champions.

Moreover, Samsung had the foresight to invest 500 million won in championship insurance with Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance—an investment that has returned an all-time high yield of two billion won. Add to that the billion or more won in “congratulatory money” that the club will dish out, and the total will come to over four billion won to be bestowed on the championship players.

The word is that the higher-ups in the Samsung Group are immensely pleased with the success of the Lions amid the various disasters that beset the group in recent weeks. Lee Hak-soo, vice chairman of the Samsung Group’s corporate restructuring office, even showed up at the Jamsil Stadium on both October 18 and 19 to cheer alongside various Samsung Group presidents.

uni@donga.com