South Korea’s richest man, Lee Kun-hee, returned yesterday as chairman of global giant Samsung Electronics, almost two years after stepping down following a probe into his business dealings.
Three months after Lee received a presidential pardon for tax evasion, the company said it needed his leadership “to take the upper hand in the global market amid the world economic crisis.”
The 68-year-old, however, expressed uncertainty about the future as Samsung tries to grow in the face of increasing low-cost Chinese competition.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is a time of real crisis. Global companies are crumbling. We don’t know what will happen to Samsung either,” a company statement quoted him as saying when he agreed to return at the request of its executives. “Within 10 years, all Samsung products may disappear. Now, we have to start anew. Let’s move on, with eyes set straight ahead.”
During his 20 years as chairman, Samsung Electronics became the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips and second-biggest manufacturer of mobile phones.
He resigned in April 2008 after being charged with tax evasion and breach of trust, but in December he received a special pardon so he could resume his suspended membership of the International Olympic Committee and work to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to South Korea.
Samsung Electronics reported annual earnings of more than US$8 billion last year, along with record sales. It employs 164,600 people in 61 countries and is competing with Hewlett-Packard for the status of the world’s biggest technology firm by revenue, but Korea Investment Securities’ analyst Kim Jung-hoon said there was lingering uncertainty because of the effects of the global downturn as well as Chinese rivals that are fast catching up with South Korean firms.
“In the current situation, strong leadership is required. Lee’s return to the helm of the world’s largest producer of LCD panels and DRAM memory chips will be a great boon to the country’s economy,” Kim said.
Samsung Electronics shares closed up just 10,000 won (US$8.80), or 1.24 percent, at 819,000 won.
Kim Young-june, analyst with LIG Investment and Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires that Lee’s return was positive for the company’s management strategy.
“He might have decided to return to play a powerful leadership role in finding a future growth engine to capture a leading global position after the company survived the global financial crisis in good shape,” Kim Young-june said.
Solidarity for Economic Reform, a group campaigning for better corporate governance, however, said Samsung had turned its back on reform promises made two years ago.
“Samsung’s promise to reform made in April 2008 turned out to be a public fraud only aimed at winning a favorable court ruling,” it said in a statement.
Lee is the son of the founder of the Samsung group of companies, whose products or services touch every aspect of South Koreans’ lives. His own son, Jae-yong, is being groomed as a third-generation successor.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS