Samsung accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports! and not listed

SEOUL, South Korea -- At Samsung Electronics Co.'s boisterous annual meeting last year, a shareholder suggested the company's chairman should step down. In response, Samsung's chief executive officer lost his cool.  "Just how many shares do you have?" Yun Jong Yong shouted at the shareholder. "Stop saying 'our company.' "
Samsung Electronics has become a household name in consumer electronics and a leading supplier of components to manufacturers world-wide. In 2004, its net income was greater than that of either Microsoft Corp. or Intel Corp. By Samsung's own reckoning, it accounts for 16% of South Korea's exports and 18% of the country's stock-market capitalization.
Yet as it takes a larger role in the global economy, Samsung is resisting pressure to retool its paternalistic and secretive corporate governance. The family that controls Samsung through a minority stake has battled to maintain its grip and often shields itself through appeals to Korean nationalism. Samsung provides scanty financial information to investors. With a market capitalization of about $70 billion, it's one of the world's most valuable companies without a stock listing in a major financial market, something that would subject it to tougher accounting rules.