Hyundai started out as a construction company in 1947, and founder Chung Ju-Yung and his extended family soon controlled a powerful South Korean business empire consisting of some 50 companies with interests in shipbuilding, automobiles, elevators and securities, among others.

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Huge debts forced the car firm to lay off 10, 000 workers, and the group was eventually bailed out in a government-brokered deal in which it was divided into several parts, each run by a different son of its founder, the late Chung Ju-yung, who was forced to resign.

ECONOMIST: Hyundai Motor

Mong-Koo Chung, the eldest living son of founder Ju-Yung Chung, took over as chairman in 1999 as the conglomerate began to split.

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Chung Ju Yung, Hyundai's 83-year-old founder, cannot know whether it was wise to force his brother to give up an 8.3% stake in Hyundai Motor in exchange for 37.7% of Hyundai Industrial Development and Construction, South Korea's largest builder of apartments.

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