Samsung heir-apparent Jay Y Lee named board member
Samsung heir-apparent Jay Y Lee has been named inside director at Samsung Electronics' shareholders' meeting and will now likely be at the forefront of running South Korea's largest conglomerate.
Lee, who holds the position of vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, was nominated to the board on September 12.
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Since his father, Lee Kun-hee, was hospitalized following a heart attack in 2014, the younger Lee has been the de facto leader of the Samsung Group.
This is the first time since 2008 that a member of the owning family took the post of inside director.
Samsung Electronics will now have four inside directors: Jay Y Lee; Kwon Oh-hyun, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung's device solutions business, or chip business; BK Yoon, CEO of Samsung's consumer electronics business; and JK Shin, CEO of Samsung's mobile business.
Lee, whose Korean name is Jae Yong Lee, will likely take charge and bear responsibility for management of all three divisions of the electronics giant.
Samsung hoped Lee's inclusion will allow for realigning of businesses for fast investment decisions and increase in competence as well as innovation in its corporate culture.
JK Shin, CEO of the firm's mobile business, also took the occasion to apologize for the Galaxy Note 7 disaster and said it was investigating the battery as well as other likely causes suggested by outsiders.
The meeting also approved the selling of Samsung's printing business to HP.
Samsung also announced its third quarter results the same day, with the mobile division's profit down 96 percent due to the Note 7 disaster.