Biz/Tech

Samsung Executive May Be Fired Before the Year Ends

Nov 24, 2014 07:57 AM EST | By Staff Reporter

Samsung is now thinking about firing its top executive after a financially challenging year and a decrease in mobile market share.

Samsung is currently devising a plan for its mobile division which includes laying-off its top executives including co-chief executive and mobile head Jong-Kyun  Shin, ZD Net reports.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Shin might be taken over by BK Yoon, who as of the moment is the company's home-appliance and television business manager. Yoon would now oversee both home-appliance/TV business as well as the smartphone and tablets business.

Although the decision is not yet final, if every Yoon would indeed take over the mobile division, his expertise in smart appliances could help the ailing brand corner the market on the "Internet of Things (IoT)" and the "connected home."

The report said that the 61-year old Yoon played a very important role in Samsung's connected home plans, and was responsible for the acquisition of SmartThings, a U.S.-based startup company that produced smartphone-operated home device controllers by Samsung earlier this year.

SmartThings now operates within the South Korean tech giant's Open Innovation Centre Group.

Meanwhile, another co-CEO, Kwon Oh-hyun will still be overseeing components production, including display panels and semiconductors.

Samsung reported disappointing third quarter results with profits down 49 percent compared to the same period last year.

The company reported quarterly net profit of  4.22 trillion won ($4 billion), or 8.9 percent of sales. This is a 49 percent drop from the 8.24 trillion won ($7.8 billion) it reported for the same period last year, and well below its second-quarter net profit result of 6.25 trillion won ($5.9 billion).

The drop is primarily caused by lower smartphone market share, reduced prices for older phones and approximately produced 40 percent fewer flagship Galaxy S5 models than expected.

Aside from that, Samsung is also facing a tough competition in China, one of its largest markets by revenue by emerging brands like Xiaomi.

© 2024 Franchise Herald. All rights reserved.

Biz/Tech

Real Time Analytics