April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong attended a board of directors’ meeting in Seoul on Nov. 2, the first since his BOD membership was approved last week.

The board approved the company’s spin-off of its printer business division as a new entity called S-Printing Solution that will be acquired by HP Inc., the US printer and PC giant, in the latter half of next year. 

Some sources predicted the Samsung heir could be appointed as the board chairman to take more responsibility over the company’s management overall, especially the ongoing recall of the discontinued Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. But the board decided to retain the current board chief Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun.

The 48-year-old Lee has been playing a key role in making strategic decisions at the Korean tech giant since his father Chairman Lee Kun-hee was hospitalized in May 2014 after a severe heart attack.

The junior Lee is the first family member to join the boardroom in eight years after his father resigned over the prosecution’s probe into the group’s slush fund creation.

As a board member, he will be responsible for civil and criminal matters at the management, while his salary and bonus, if exceeding 500 million won (US$430,000), should be publicized on a quarterly basis.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)