Buyout of Biogen’s stake expected to boost Samsung’s competitiveness in global bio industry

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's third-largest mobile carrier, said Friday it shifted to black in the fourth quarter from a year earlier on the back of growth in 5G network subscriptions. Net income for the October-December period stood at 101.8 billion won ($84.5 million), marking a turnaround from a loss of 224.7 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company's operating profit dipped 9.8 percent on-year to 158.2 billion won while sales rose 2.7 percent on-y

Samsung Card Co., a major South Korean card issuer, on Friday reported a 169.1 percent rise in its fourth-quarter earnings as consumption rebounded from a pandemic-caused slowdown. Net income in the October-December quarter came to 129.4 billion won ($107.4 million) on a consolidated basis, up from 48.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Fourth-quarter operating profit also surged 179.6 percent to 175.8 billion won, while sales declined 3.1 percent to 886.4 bi

SK Innovation Co., the energy and chemical affiliate of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, said Friday it swung to the black in the fourth quarter from a year earlier on strong petrochemical demand and electric vehicle (EV) battery sales. Net income came to 163.4 billion won ($135.7 million) in the October-December period, a turnaround from a loss of 232.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. It continued to post an operating loss of 47.3 billion won but far le

Shareholders of Posco, South Korea's top steelmaker, approved the company's plan to transform into a holding company by splitting it into two business entities, the steelmaker said Friday. After the breakup, the steelmaking group's holding company, tentatively named Posco Holdings, will focus on charting out future business, research and development, and investment. The steelmaking business will be dubbed Posco, which will be wholly owned by Posco Holdings and remain unlisted. The steelmaker'

Kyobo Life Insurance, a major South Korean life insurer, said Friday that it has requested a US nonprofit watchdog to punish three accountants of Deloitte Anjin for colluding to inflate the prices of a put option exercised by one of its investors. Kyobo Life Insurance filed the petition with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, asking for their "strong punishment," according to the company. The board is a nonprofit watchdog established by US Congress to oversee the audits of

SK hynix Inc., South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker, on Friday reported strong fourth-quarter earnings, helped by solid memory chip demand for servers and smartphones. Net profit for the three months that ended in December leaped by 87.5 percent from a year earlier to 3.31 trillion won ($2.8 billion). Operating profit rose 340 percent from a year ago to 4.21 trillion won, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2018. Sales jumped 55.4 percent to a quarterly record of 12.37 trillion won, marking the

State-run bank to support HHI if lawsuit filed against EU regulators

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Thursday it plans to offer a before-tax interest rate of up to 1.5% per year on savings for those who subscribe to SC Bank‘s My Signature Account for the first time. The promotional event runs through Feb. 28. My Signature Account, launched in July, is a checking account that offers “high yield” in connection to one's transaction performance. The account has been in the limelight for providing a stable yield amidst fluctuating interest r

The Korean digital comics platform Naver Webtoon plans to fortify its foothold in the North American and ASEAN video content market, capitalizing on an extended IP value chain that now encompasses web novel giant Wattpad and the recently launched Wattpad Webtoon Studios. While Naver Webtoon has long developed expertise in adapting Korean webtoons into films, teaming up with Wattpad is expected to expand its presence to the web novel sector. Wattpad, North America’s largest web novel platf

With the nation’s new industrial safety law taking effect Thursday, companies across industries are bolstering their safety management systems to avoid being the first punished under the enhanced rules.  Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, business owners or executives at companies with more than 50 employees could face a criminal penalty of a minimum one-year prison term or fines of up to 1 billion won ($835,000) for fatal industrial accidents under circumstances where safet

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker, said Thursday it has invested $4 million in US radar startup Zendar to develop autonomous driving technologies. Through the stake investment, Hyundai Mobis aims to develop imaging radar optimized for Level 4 autonomous driving technology, the company said in a statement. Imaging radar extends existing radar's ability beyond detecting bulky objects to recognizing a vehicle's environment more precisely by processing data from radars on t

Hyundai Motor will develop a marine mobility platform powered by seawater by 2023 to replace small and mid-sized diesel ships polluting the sea. The project has been directly reported to Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun. According to industry sources Thursday, the automaker is developing a 15-20 meter-long yacht powered by the firm’s hydrogen fuel cells. The trimaran yacht has three hulls, each of which is installed with equipment to break seawater into hydrogen. Then, hydrogen fuel

South Korea's top internet portal operator, Naver Corp., said Thursday its net profit jumped nearly 20 times in 2021 from the previous year on the back of the non-contact trend amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Naver's net profit reached 16.41 trillion won ($13.7 billion) last year, compared with a net profit of 836.2 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating income reached 1.32 trillion won for all of 2021, up 9.1 percent from the year before. Sales reached a

Hyundai Steel said Wednesday it has developed a premium 1.5 GPa martensitic steel plate to be used on electric vehicles. According to South Korea’s No. 2 steelmaker, the new plate is flatter and has higher crack resistance than any other in the same product category, allowing it to be used on battery containers for EVs, bumpers, and roof sides. Usually, a 1.5 GPa martensitic steel plate is not flat enough and cracks easily due to hydrogen penetration. But Hyundai Steel used a heat tec