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SK hynix CEO Kwak Makes Earnings Call Debut to Rebuild Investor Trust

What happened

SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung joined the company's earnings conference call for the first time since taking office, on Oct. 28 at SK hynix's third-quarter 2026 earnings call, to outline its shareholder return policy; his appearance was seen as an effort to restore market confidence following shareholder opposition to the proposed IPO of Solidigm and a sharp decline in SK hynix's share price. Kwak said that after comprehensively considering financial market volatility and the correction in semiconductor industry share prices, the company decided to suspend its review of a Solidigm IPO; SK hynix had disclosed on Oct. 23 that it suspended consideration of both a pre-IPO investment round and an IPO for Solidigm, amid concerns that a separate listing could undermine shareholder value at the parent company through a duplicate listing. Kwak also announced plans to distribute returns from the Kioxia investment through a special dividend: SK hynix decided to distribute approximately 7 trillion won of its Kioxia investment gains as an initial special dividend in the third quarter, equivalent to 10,000 won per share, with the remainder to be included in the year-end dividend after final investment returns for this year are determined; the total amount to be returned through special dividends has yet to be finalized. Industry observers estimate the profit from the fund investment at approximately 20 trillion won (SK hynix joined a Bain Capital-led consortium in 2018 and invested a total of 395 billion yen, approximately 3.9 trillion won at the time, in Kioxia, then known as Toshiba Memory, through fund contributions and purchases of convertible bonds, fully recovering its investment in June when Bain Capital sold its stake in Kioxia). Including an additional dividend of 10,000 won per share reflecting improved operating performance, the company set its third-quarter dividend at 20,000 won per share, totaling approximately 14 trillion won. Including the third-quarter dividend, SK hynix plans to return approximately 100 trillion won to shareholders for the current fiscal year, comprising more than 30 trillion won in cash dividends and more than 60 trillion won in share repurchases and cancellations; first- and second-quarter dividends totaled approximately 265.8 billion won and 273.3 billion won respectively, about 539.1 billion won combined, and after deducting first-half dividends and the approximately 14 trillion won third-quarter dividend from the annual cash dividend target, additional fourth-quarter dividends are estimated to exceed 15 trillion won. The planned repurchases of more than 60 trillion won include the 40 trillion won program announced in August, which was completed last week with shares expected to be canceled soon; at its meeting on Oct. 28, the board approved an additional 20 trillion won in share repurchases, of which 10 trillion won will be used for shareholder returns with all purchased shares to be canceled, while the remaining approximately 10 trillion won will be used for employee compensation (excluded from the annual shareholder return total); based on the annual target, the company is expected to announce at least another 10 trillion won in share repurchases and cancellations during the fourth quarter. Additionally, at the end of the third quarter SK hynix held 114.5 trillion won in cash and cash equivalents with 15.8 trillion won in borrowings; net cash stood at 98.7 trillion won, up 29.3 trillion won from the previous quarter, moving closer to the 100 trillion won net cash financial stability target presented at its annual shareholders' meeting in March.