Cho Jung-ho inherited Hanjin's financial affiliates after his father's death, then separated them from the family conglomerate and expanded them into the much larger Meritz Financial Group. [1][2][3]
His starting platform came from the Hanjin family split
Cho is the youngest son of Hanjin Group founder Cho Choong-hoon. Reporting on the family's post-2002 asset division says Jung-ho inherited financial affiliates including insurance and securities businesses while his brothers took other Hanjin divisions. [1][2]
That inheritance gave him an established operating base rather than a startup from scratch. The family division later became contentious, and Jung-ho ultimately broke away from Hanjin with the financial businesses in 2005. [1]
Forbes reported in 2015 that the value of Meritz had multiplied about seventeenfold after Cho left the Hanjin fold, with Meritz Insurance and Meritz Securities forming the foundation of the new financial group. [1]
Meritz's growth materially expanded the inherited financial assets
By March 2025, Korean financial reporting put Cho's Meritz Financial Group ownership at 51.25% and valued his listed holdings at roughly 13.43 trillion won, reflecting the scale reached by the financial platform under his control. [2]
Meritz currently lists Cho as chairman of Meritz Financial Group and notes prior chairmanships at Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities. The record therefore supports both a substantial inherited starting platform and decades of active expansion afterward. [3]
Sources for background
Sources reviewed Oct 3, 2026.
- Feeling Shortchanged, Meritz's Cho Jung-Ho Builds His Own Empire · Forbes · Apr 29, 2015
- Meritz's Cho Jung-ho becomes S. Korea's wealthiest stockholder, surpassing Samsung's Lee Jae-yong · The Chosun Daily · Mar 7, 2025
- Directors · Meritz Financial Group
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