On Friday, the bigwig business executives of one of the world’s largest IT companies, got an unexpected earful from one of its shareholders: an 11-year-old and a proud owner of two Samsung Electronics shares.
Identified only by his surname Yu, the fifth-grader at an elementary school, bravely took the chance to stand up and comment on Samsung’s embarrassing recall of the Galaxy Note 7 at the company’s general shareholder meeting held earlier in the day.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun speaks during the company’s shareholder meeting at its Seocho office in southern Seoul, Friday. (Yonhap)
“I feel a little nervous as this is the first time I’m attending a general shareholder meeting. I would like to say that I hope, regardless of how long (the development) would take, there would be no more incidents like the explosion of Galaxy Note 7 again,” Yu said at the meeting.
Yu reportedly saved his pocket money to buy two shares of Samsung Electronics.
In response, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said his attendance was “historical.”
“He seems to be the youngest shareholder. We will accept such opinions from young shareholders and reflect them in our business,” Kwon said.
According to news reports, Yu does not own a smartphone yet but said after the meeting that he hoped to buy LG Electronics’ V20.
Meanwhile, other shareholders of Samsung Electronics were also vocal about latest issues, namely the firm’s involvement in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the ousting of former President Park Geun-hye and the arrest of the tech giant’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong.
One shareholder also said the company should resolve the issue of compensation for the families of former workers who died of leukemia after working at Samsung’s chip factories.
By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)