April 23, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Charity donations by leading conglomerates have shrunk more than 13 percent in 2017 from last year despite making profits, data showed on Nov. 29.

Donation cuts by Samsung Group were the most striking, according to the data provided by corporate management tracker CEO Score. Samsung Electronics reduced its contributions by 112.5 billion won (US$103.97 million) this year, down 39.8 percent.

Samsung Life Insurance nearly did away with donations this year, which amounted to 144 million won compared with 24.73 billion won last year.

Despite the cutback, Samsung Electronics still was the biggest giver so far this year, followed by the far-distant No. 2 SK Telecom, which donated 57.9 billion won.

CEO Score’s tally showed that contributions by 257 conglomerates up to end-September this year totaled 978.8 billion won, 13.4 percent less than the same period last year. The companies were selected from the top 500 firms in terms of sales that made their charity work records public.

The decrease is in contrast to an overall 38.1 increase in operational profits for the top 500 companies.

Tobacco manufacturer KT&G reduced its donations by 79 percent, and GS Caltex by 81.5 percent. Woori Bank also cut its charity by 39 percent.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)