Samsung heirs commit $13-billion shares to buy time for tax bill

Most of the Samsung stock is parked with a court as collateral for the inheritance tax levy of more than 12 trillion won ($10.1 billion)

Samsung Group’s heirs have pledged stock worth more than $13 billion in one of the world’s largest collateral commitments, mostly to buy time to pay a massive inheritance tax bill.

Since April, Jay Y. Lee and his family have committed part of their stakes in four of the conglomerate’s firms, including Samsung Electronics Co. and de-facto holding company Samsung C&T Corp., filings show. Among the 500 members of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, only Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison has pledged more shares.

Most of the Samsung stock is parked with a court as collateral for the inheritance tax levy of more than 12