Samsung names new leaders as profit soars

Third-quarter profit nearly triples to $12.91b; Firm names new leaders of 3 main businesses

South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd named a new generation of top managers yesterday and promised to reward shareholders with $26 billion (Dh95 billion) in payouts to 2020, as it reported record third-quarter profit.

The world’s biggest maker of semiconductors, televisions and smartphones replaced the leaders of its three main businesses, named CFO Lee Sanghoon as the likely new board chairman, and said veteran co-CEOs J.K. Shin and Yoon Boo-keun would resign.

The shake-up at South Korea’s biggest company is designed to ease investors’ concerns about a leadership vacuum following the arrest and conviction of group scion Jay Y. Lee on bribery charges earlier this year.

The new appointees are all long-serving Samsung insiders whose elevations suggest continuity rather than any new direction at the $348 billion company.

Kim Ki-nam, 59, was appointed to lead the Device Solutions division which makes components including memory chips, the major driver of the firm’s record third-quarter profit of 14.5 trillion won (Dh47.41 billion).

In other appointments, Samsung said Koh Dong-jin, 56, would head IT and Mobile Communications, and Kim Hyun-suk, 56, would lead Consumer Electronics. The changes were effective immediately.

Dividend payout

Samsung said it would double dividends next year to 9.6 trillion won (Dh31.57 billion) and keep them at that level until 2020.

It also said 2017 capital expenditure would be its biggest ever, climbing 81 per cent to 46.2 trillion won ($41 billion) as it builds new chip factories and clean-rooms.

Revenue jumped 29.8 per cent to 62 trillion won, also in line with its earlier estimate.