⁍ South Korea’s powerful Lee family faces a battle to maintain control of Samsung Group following the death of patriarch and group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

---

⁍ The family is expected to focus on maintaining control of the conglomerate’s crown jewel Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 005930.KS.

---

⁍ But family members’ combined direct stake ownership is only at 5.8%.

---

– The death of Lee Kun-hee, chairman of South Korea’s Samsung Group, has left one of the world’s most powerful families scrambling to maintain control of one of the world’s most successful business empires. Lee, who founded the conglomerate in 1938, died Tuesday at the age of 88, the BBC reports. He left behind a fortune estimated at around $13 billion, including a 45% stake in Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest maker of smartphones, memory chips, and semiconductors. According to Reuters, the Lee family’s combined direct stake ownership is only around 5.8%, with heir apparent Jay Y. Lee holding just 0.7% of Samsung Electronics. If the family inherits Lee’s assets, the inheritance tax bill is estimated to be around $9 billion. The tax can be paid in installments, with one-sixth paid initially and the rest over five years, meaning annual payments can be more than $1 billion. Jay Y. Lee can sell his shares in Samsung affiliates to pay the tax, as can dividends totaling around 702 billion won a year from Samsung affiliates, which will add up to around 32% of the annual tax bill. The passage of a law making it tougher for insurance companies to hold large stakes in non-financial affiliates could force Samsung Life to sell its stake in Samsung Electronics and weaken the Lee family’s control.