- Title: Samsung shareholders OK board seat for Samsung Group scion
- Date: 27th October 2016
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (OCTOBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) SHAREHOLDERS LEAVING MEETING ROOM PEOPLE TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 80-YEAR-OLD SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS SHAREHOLDER, KIM YONG-JIN SAYING: "He has been serving a role only as a vice chairman, not as a board director. Now that Lee has become a board director, he will take responsibility for decisions made at meetings, right? We are expecting this." EXTERIOR OF SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS BUILDING FLAG OF SAMSUNG FLYING PEOPLE WALKING OUT OF BUILDING
- Embargoed: 11th November 2016 07:41
- Keywords: South Korea Samsung Jay Y. Lee Vice Chairman board direction Samsung Group Samsung Electronics leader
- Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
- City: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00455S4UO5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd shareholders voted on Thursday (October 27) to make Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee a board director, a move seen as further cementing the 48-year-old's role as the leader of Samsung Group.
The seat gives the scion of the founding Lee family an official leadership position at Samsung Group's flagship company and allows him to publicly weigh in on strategic decisions.
Samsung also said it aims to recover quickly from the disastrous withdrawal of the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 that dragged third-quarter mobile earnings to their lowest level in nearly eight years.
The South Korean giant said it was expanding its probe into the Note 7 fires beyond batteries, as it tried to reassure investors that it would get to the bottom of one of the worst product failures in tech history.
"The basic principle of our company is that a quality problem like in this case is unacceptable. We apologize profusely for the great inconvenience for consumers due to this issue," said Co-Chief Executive J.K. Shin as he apologised for the debacle at a general meeting in Seoul following the release of the company's results.
Jay Y. Lee, the son of patriarch Lee Kun-hee who has been hospitalised following a heart attack, will now have greater accountability at the group's flagship company and a clearer mandate to play a public role in setting strategy.
Investors now want a clear plan for how Samsung will revive earnings growth, repair its tattered brand image and boost shareholder returns, hence the company's promise to consider a share buyback.
The world's top smartphone maker posted a 96 percent plunge in third-quarter mobile earnings to 100 billion won ($87.63 million) from a year earlier, their lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2008.
The result, the first since the mass recall and subsequent cancellation of the premium Note 7 earlier this month, spared Samsung from its first-ever mobile loss even though overall profit hit a two-year low.
Operating profit was 5.2 trillion won (4 billion pounds), matching Samsung's revised guidance. The firm initially estimated a 7.8 trillion won profit but cut its guidance to reflect losses incurred in the Note 7 withdrawal. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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