Lee Dong-chae
Source of wealth: Chemicals
...
...
The scale of their wealth
Health
The price of life
Let's compare Lee Dong-chae's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country
Lee Dong-chae could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 0.9 years.
But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country
On the other end, Lee Dong-chae could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.4 years.
Education
Buying the future
Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country
Lee Dong-chae could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.6 years.
And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country
But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Lee Dong-chae could pay for it entirely for 0.8 years.
Research
The monopoly on progress
Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country
Lee Dong-chae could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 3.3 years.
And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide
But even if we compare the total wealth of Lee Dong-chae with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.1 years.
Gold
Everyday luxuries
Lee Dong-chae's fortune is equivalent to 14 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.
A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.
Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.
Lee Dong-chae could buy 3,612,448 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!
And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 1 trucks to transport them. Although Lee Dong-chae will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.
Biography
Lee Dong-chae is the founder of EcoPro, a chemicals group that he started in 1998.
EcoPro BM, a unit of EcoPro, is South Korea's largest producer of cathodes for EV batteries by capacity.
In 2022, a joint venture between EcoPro BM and Samsung SDI, Samsung's battery arm, completed construction of the world's largest cathode material plant by capacity.
In 2023, Lee was sentenced to a two-year prison term and fined 2.2 billion won ($1.7 million) for insider trading. He maintained his innocence and was pardoned in 2024.
Lee returned to EcoPro after the pardon, but did not resume the chairman position that he stepped down from in 2022.
Financial Assets
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison