Park Hyeon-joo

Park Hyeon-joo (born October 17, 1958[1]) is a South Korean businessman. He is the founder of Mirae Asset Financial Group and a venture capitalist.[2] Called the "father of South Korea's mutual fund industry",[3][2][4] he established the first mutual fund in the country in 1998.[5]

He is among the richest people in South Korea. In December 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth as US$1.1 billion and ranked him 31st richest in the country.[2]

Biography

Park was born on October 17, 1958 in Gwangju, South Korea. In 1977, he graduated from Gwangju Jeil High School. In 1983, he graduated from Korea University with a bachelor's in business administration.[1]

In 1986, he joined Dongyang Securities (now part of Yuanta Securities). In 1991, he became branch manager of Dongwon Securities (now part of Korea Investment & Securities). In 1996, he was made director of the Gangnam branch of Dongwon Securities.[1]

On July 18, 1997,[6] he cofounded Mirae Asset Investment Advisory and Mirae Asset Global Investments, along with eight colleagues from the securities industry. The company was the first professional asset management company in Korean history.[1] In December 1998, he established the first mutual fund in the country,[5] which was called "Park Hyeon-joo No. 1" .[1][6] The mutual fund quickly proved to be extremely popular, and sold out within hours of its launch.[6] In 2001, he became the chairman of Mirae Asset Group.[1] The company began expanding internationally beginning in 2004.[4]

In 2009, Harvard Business School created a case study on Park and his experience at Mirae Asset.[7] Beginning in 2010, he began donating all his received dividends to talent development and social welfare programs through his foundation, the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation.[8]

In 2020, a subcompany of Mirae Asset, the vast majority of which was held by Park and his family (91.86%), was fined for unfair transactions that benefitted the owners of the company. Park did not receive any criminal charges for this, as Park did not order the transaction.[9][10]

Personal life

He is married to Kim Mi-gyeong. The couple have children Park Ha-min, Park Eun-min ,[11][1] and Park Jun-beom. Their three children have each studied in the United States.[1]

Awards

• Korea Management Award (2008)[1]
• Dasan Financial Prize (2017)[1]
• International Executive of the Year Award, Academy of International Business (2024)[12]