Samsung Electronics approved a plan to return about ₩90 trillion to ₩110 trillion ($64.9 billion to $79.4 billion) to shareholders during 2026, or up to ₩110 trillion under its policy of returning 50% of cumulative free cash flow from 2024 through 2026. The plan would be roughly five times the previous Korean corporate record of ₩20.3 trillion set in 2020. Samsung will initially distribute about ₩30 trillion in third-quarter cash dividends, or roughly ₩5,000 per share, compared with ₩374 in the second quarter; the remaining ₩60 trillion to ₩80 trillion is expected to be allocated through additional dividends and share buybacks or cancellations after full-year results are finalized and a board meeting in January next year. Samsung shares briefly reached ₩285,000 before surrendering their gains in after-hours trading and closing at ₩270,000, below the previous session. Investors sought greater clarity on the size and method of future buybacks, while Morgan Stanley said the increase was largely expected and slightly below recent expectations and KB Securities had estimated returns could reach ₩200 trillion. By comparison, SK Hynix announced a ₩40.0043 trillion ($28.9 billion) open-market buyback of 24.07 million shares, about 3.3% of shares outstanding, for full retirement from Aug. 20 through Nov. 19. Samsung and SK Hynix’s more-than-50% free-cash-flow return policies were compared with SanDisk and Micron proposals to return 100% of excess cash, although Korean institutions said the metrics are not directly comparable.