Key points
- A Samsung couple's $2.2 million bonus estimate
- Their home has gained 50 percent in value
- 49.5 percent initial tax withholding on the special bonus
- Special bonus payment planned for around late March 2027
On October 8, a Samsung Electronics (005930) employee wrote on the anonymous workplace app Blind that he and his wife expect at least 3 billion won ($2.2M) in bonuses going forward. Both work in Samsung's memory chip business. Electronic Times (전자신문) reported the post on October 10.
The poster, who verified on Blind that he works at Samsung, is in his early 30s. "Seeing this bonus, I honestly think we're not ordinary working people anymore," was the title of his post.
He introduced himself as "a guy whose biggest achievement in life was getting hired here." "I met my wife at the company, and now we both work in the memory division," he wrote.
After about five years of both working, the couple bought a home worth about 800 million won ($595,000). It's now worth about 1.2 billion won ($893,000), he wrote. They're also preparing to move to a home priced between 1.5 billion and 2 billion won ($1.1M to $1.5M), using loans from the company.
He put the couple's future bonuses at "at least 3 billion won." If they're paid as he expects, "I could probably even quit within five years," he wrote. He also wrote that it felt strange to be handling billions of won after studying a moderate amount, joining a decent company, and working a moderate amount. Electronic Times paraphrased that part of the post.
The 3 billion won figure is his own estimate
Electronic Times didn't report how he reached 3 billion won. Actual bonuses depend on each worker's salary, rank, and division performance, the paper reported.
Samsung's largest union has estimated that a memory chip worker earning a little over 80 million won ($60,000) a year could receive about 750 million won ($558,000) in bonuses before tax next year. That estimate includes Samsung's existing profit-sharing bonus. Two workers at that level would receive about 1.5 billion won ($1.1M) before tax next year, by our arithmetic. The post doesn't specify the period covered by the couple's 3 billion won estimate, so the figures aren't directly comparable.
Samsung will pay the special bonus in shares
Samsung's chip division announced its special bonus plan to employees on October 7. The pool is 10.5 percent of the division's 2026 operating profit, with no upper limit. Payment is set for around late March 2027, right after shareholders approve it at the annual meeting.
The special bonus counts as 2027 income. Samsung will withhold 49.5 percent for tax at first, which is the top 45 percent income tax rate plus local income tax. The rest comes as Samsung shares.
Workers can sell a third of the shares right away. Another third can't be sold for one year, and the last third can't be sold for two years. What those later shares are worth will depend on Samsung's stock price when they can be sold.
Samsung estimates a record quarter
On October 8, Samsung estimated its third-quarter operating profit at 107.4 trillion won ($79.9B), almost nine times the year before. That puts Samsung on course to be the first Korean company to report more than 100 trillion won ($74.4B) in quarterly operating profit.
Electronic Times tied the bigger bonuses to a recovery in the memory chip market and growing demand for AI.
Meanwhile, Korea's stock market reopens on October 12 after the Hangeul Day holiday. Samsung shares last closed at 262,000 won ($195) on October 8.
The Blind post is translated from Korean. Won figures are converted at 1,343.8 won to the dollar, the latest Naver Finance rate, from October 8, 2026.
