Samsung Electronics Co said yesterday it will consolidate four key businesses — semiconductors, liquid crystal displays, mobile phones and televisions — into two divisions as the company deals with the slowing global economy.
The restructuring was included in an announcement of personnel changes at the company, as well as the broader Samsung Group of which the corporation serves as flagship.
Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Yoon-woo, who retains his position, will also take on the added responsibility of overseeing the combined semiconductor and LCD businesses in a Device Solution division, according to the announcement.
The company also plans a combined Digital Media and Communications division to be headed by Choi Gee-sung, bringing together televisions and mobile phones under one umbrella.
Samsung Electronics is the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips, liquid-crystal displays and flat screen televisions. It ranks second behind Finland’s Nokia Corp in mobile phones.
The company, however, has been struggling of late amid the global downturn and falling prices for semiconductors and flat screens.
Samsung’s net profit fell 44 percent in the third quarter of last year from the same period in 2007. Samsung is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter earnings next week.
“We needed to effectively respond to the current global recession,” Samsung spokeswoman Hwang Eun-ju said regarding the reason for the changes.
She also said that Samsung will cut the pay of top executives by 20 percent.
The group-wide personnel changes are the first since the resignation in April of Lee Kun-hee as chairman of Samsung Electronics, the post from where he oversaw the entire Samsung Group. The position of Samsung chairman remains unfilled.
Lee resigned after being indicted on charges of tax evasion, for which he was eventually convicted and handed a suspended prison sentence. He was acquitted on separate breach of trust charges.
Besides Samsung Electronics, the conglomerate consists of dozens of companies with interests in shipbuilding, construction, life insurance and leisure.
The group is said to account for about 20 percent of South Korea’s exports.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique