Kioxia employees strike stock market jackpot

Employees at Kioxia, Japan's largest memory chipmaker, could each be holding more than 1 billion yen (about 9.5 billion won) in unrealized stock gains after the company's share price soared alongside the semiconductor boom, according to an analysis by the Nikkei newspaper.

Kioxia was formed in 2018 after a Bain Capital-led consortium acquired Toshiba Memory. As part of the deal, about 600 employees received a total of 7 million company shares, Nikkei reported.

When Kioxia debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2024, its shares were offered at 1,455 yen. Amid a booming chip market, the stock climbed to a yearly high of 112,700 yen on June 22. Assuming employees have not sold their holdings, the unrealized gain now totals about 778 billion yen. That translates into more than 1 billion yen in paper gains per employee before taxes, according to Nikkei.

Toshiba, which invented NAND flash memory in 1987, was once synonymous with Japan's leadership in memory chips and the country's rise as a semiconductor powerhouse in the 1980s. After posting a 1 trillion yen loss in fiscal 2016, largely because of losses tied to its U.S. nuclear power business, the company sold its memory division. The Bain-led consortium that created Kioxia also drew attention by granting generous stock options to ordinary employees. Nikkei said the move was designed to motivate midlevel managers, including department and section managers, who play a central role in Japanese corporate decision-making.

Kioxia Chairman Stacy Smith is also set to receive a sizable payout under the company's performance-based stock compensation program. His compensation for fiscal 2025 totaled 4.431 billion yen (about 42.3 billion won), nearly 15 times the previous year's level.

Kioxia is the world's third-largest NAND flash maker by market share, behind Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. On June 12, its market capitalization exceeded 44 trillion yen (about 418 trillion won), surpassing Toyota Motor to become the Tokyo market's most valuable listed company.


In-Chan Hwang hic@donga.com