[3] He is the founder and chairman of MBK Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.
[5][non-primary source needed] He has been named one of Bloomberg's 50 most influential people[6] in the world and Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy.
[7] According to Forbes, Kim had a net wealth of $9.7 billion[8] as of April 2023, ranking him the richest person in South Korea and #190 in the world.
[10][non-primary source needed] Kim began his career as a mergers and acquisitions banker at Goldman Sachs after completing his MBA at Harvard.
[13] His takeover of Tesco subsidiary Homeplus was the largest private equity deal in South Korea's history.
He is or has been on the boards of Harvard Business School,[15] [non-primary source needed]Haverford College, KorAm Bank, China Network Systems, Yayoi, C&M, Tasaki, Universal Studios Japan, Coway, ING Life Korea, Homeplus, RAND Corporation,[16] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[17] New York Public Library,[18] Carnegie Hall,[19] Asia Business Leaders Advisory Council[20] and Temasek Philanthropy Asia Alliance.
[28] In January 2022, MBK sold an approximately 13% stake to Dyal Capital Partners in a transaction valued at about $1 billion.
"[33][34][full citation needed] In Tony Robbins' book "The Holy Grail of Investing: the World's Greatest Investors",[35] published in March 2024, Kim was called "The Godfather of Asia Private Equity and wealthiest man in South Korea.
"[citation needed] In July 2024, Kim became chair of the board of trustees at Haverford College, the first Korean-American to hold such a position at a U.S.
[42] In April 2024, Haverford announced that Kim was donating $25 million to the college (equal to the largest single gift the school had ever received) to establish an Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership and to fund related faculty positions.