News: Samsung Electronics facing unprecedented crisis, CEO quits

Leadership

Samsung Electronics facing unprecedented crisis, CEO quits

Samsung Electronics CEO, Kwon Oh-Hyun resigns citing unprecedented crisis.
Samsung Electronics facing unprecedented crisis, CEO quits

Kwon Oh-Hyun, CEO, and Vice- President of South Korea based Electronics Company, Samsung has announced his resignation. He will step down from his position of CEO and as well as from the board in March 2018. The news comes after the de facto head of the entire Samsung Group, was imprisoned for corruption in August.

In his letter to the company, Kwon mentioned, “It is something I had been thinking long and hard about for quite some time. It has not been an easy decision, but I feel I can no longer put it off," He further added, "As we are faced with unprecedented crisis inside out, I believe that time has now come for the company start anew, with a new spirit and young leadership to better respond to challenges arising from the rapidly changing IT industry.

According to the media reports, the “unprecedented crisis” in Kwon’s letter indicates the imprisonment of Lee Jae-Yong, on corruption charges. Lee was accused of giving donations worth $36 million to non-profit foundations run by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of South Korea's former President Park Geun-Hye, in return for political favors. Kwon’s resignation indicates that the corruption scandal could have a major impact on the company’s operations and culture.

Kwon, joined the company in 1985 and was appointed as Samsung Electronics CEO in 2012 and was named Samsung Display CEO in 2016. The leadership troubles, however, doesn’t seem to impact the company’s bottom line. The company predicts the forecast profit of $12.81 billion.

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Topics: Leadership, Culture

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