Samsung Electronics Co-CEO Passes — It Couldn’t Come At A More Precarious Time for the Chipmaker
Waning market share, widespread layoffs, and weak profits — this isn’t Intel, but rather, Samsung. South Korea’s largest company hasn’t been doing well in the last few months — with its stock down more than 25% over the past year. And recent momentum has been cracked by the passing of one of the company’s top leaders.
- On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics co-CEO Han Jong-hee unexpectedly died of cardiac arrest, leaving a new appointment in charge of the company’s languishing chip business.
- The division will now be led by Jun Young-hyun, who was appointed as a co-CEO last week — he was previously promoted in 2024 to lead the semiconductor division.
Forward-looking: Samsung’s unusually weak performance comes despite a broader rally in the country’s walled-off equities market. It’s arguably holding back the KOSPI Composite Index, which has rallied 9% to start the year — led higher in part by competitor SK Hynix (+20% YTD). These two stocks represent over a third of the US-traded MSCI South Korea ETF. However, other Korean titans are doing one better — E-Mart (+26%), Hybe (+23%), and Hyundai Corporation (+22%).
