Samsung appoints heir and ex-convict Jay Y Lee executive chairman as losses mount
On Thursday (October 27), Jay Y Lee was named as executive chairman of Samsung, confirming that the billion-dollar company will be run by the third generation of the founder family.
The board approved Lee’s ascension to the helm of the $250 billion company, it said in a statement.
It was expected that Lee will take over the company in 2020 after the demise of his father, but the process was delayed due to a corruption probe and two-year imprisonment.
Lee earlier functioned as the vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics since 2012.
The announcement came the same day the company declared poor earnings and warned that it doesn’t expect the situation to get better until the second half of the year 2023.
The electronics giant reported a drop of 31 per cent in its third-quarter profit. The geopolitical uncertainties will dampen demand until early 2023, it said, according to a Reuters report.
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Samsung hopes Lee’s appointment will lead to growth in profits. To ensure the supply of chips, US and countries in Europe are pressuring Samsung to raise investments. South Korea, which significantly depends on the Chinese markets for exports, is currently being forced to take a side with US’s campaign to stifle China’s chip market, Bloomberg reported.
As per media reports, the new chairman owns 1.63 per cent of Samsung Electronics, and nearly 18.13 per cent of Samsung C&T Corp. of the company.
According to Bloomberg data, Lee is worth nearly $6 billion.
(With inputs from agencies)
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