[THE INVESTOR] South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI said in its preliminary regulatory filing on Oct. 27 that it posted 110.4 billion won (US$96.60 million) operating loss in the July-September period due to costs for the Galaxy Note 7 crisis. Its revenue came in at 1.29 trillion won, down 2.1 percent from 27.2 billion won in the previous quarter.Samsung SDI, one of the main battery suppliers of Samsung Electronics‘ Galaxy Note 7, said it would buy back its own shares worth 300 billion won to

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics plans to roll out a set of new corporate policies next month that are more friendly to shareholders in an apparent move to appease mounting demands from investors calling to modernize its governance structure and share more profits with them. “We are reviewing the demands from shareholders, including the latest one by Elliott Associates, to offer them more benefits,” said a Samsung executive in a conference call after the company’s third-quarter earnings report

[THE INVESTOR] LG Display said in a preliminary filing on Oct. 26 that it earned 323.2 billion won (US$286 million) in operating profit, down 3 percent on-year, in the July-September period.  Its revenue stood at 6.7 trillion won, down 6 percent from a year earlier.The display firm said it has suffered from a weak demand and fierce competition in the display sector during the second quarter.Compared to the previous quarter, the second-quarter operating profit improved 628 percent while its reven

[THE INVESTOR] The chief executive of South Korea’s No. 1 cable TV network operator CJ HelloVision said on Oct. 25 that the company would try to seek business growth via new mergers and acquisitions.The company’s stock price has tumbled in recent months after its failed merger attempt with SK Broadband, a subsidiary of mobile network operator SK Telecom. On July 4, the nation’s antitrust watchdog disapproved the deal citing monopoly concerns of the merged entity. Since then, its shares have suff

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said on a conference call on Oct. 25 that it will make an additional 1.5 trillion won investment this year. The company said its investments madd until the third quarter add up to 4.5 trillion won. The new funding planned in the fourth quarter will be used for, among other projects, the development of 1x-nanometer DRAM chip whose production is expected to start from the second quarter next year.The letters x, y, z are used to indicate the scale of t

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix on Oct. 25 predicted that the recent Samsung Galaxy Note 7 crisis would help boost the memory chip demand among Chinese smartphone makers. "With the absence of a popular model (Samsung Galaxy Note 7), the high-end smartphone market is likely to suffer supply constraints," a company executive said during a conference call in line with its third-quarter earnings report. "Chinese smartphone makers, among others, would ramp up efforts to fill the void,

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said in a preliminary filing on Oct. 25 that it posted 726 billion won (US$639.60 million) operating profit in the July-September period, down 47. 5 percent from a year earlier. Its revenue stood at 4.23 trillion won, down 13.8 percent on-year.The drop in profits from the same period last year is mainly due to the declining price of DRAM and fierce competition in the memory chip sector.However, the third-quarter operating profit, which beats a previ

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said in a conference call on Oct. 25 that it would increase the monthly output of 3-D NAND flash memory chips to around 20,000 to 30,000 sheets as previously planned in a bid to meet the fast-growing demand for it in the mobile sector. The company said it would commercialize the third-generation 3-D NAND flash memory chip, which stacks 48 layers of cells inside, by the end of this year, while a fourth-generation NAND chip with 64 cell layers would b

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean chipmaker SK hynix  said in a preliminary filing on Oct. 25 that it posted 726 billion won (US$639.6 million) in operating profit in the July-September period, down 47. 5 percent from a year earlier with its revenue standing at 4.23 trillion won, down 13.8 percent during the same period. (theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)

[THE INVESTOR] Amid Samsung Electronics’ ongoing efforts to recover from the ongoing Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, the Korean smartphone maker has signaled that it is would not ditch the Note brand next year. Announcing a new compensation program for the Note 7 users on Oct. 24, the company said it would offer a 50-percent indirect discount for current Note 7 users on their purchase of the firm’s new flagship phones, including “the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8.”Samsung said participants in the new progra

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics announced on Oct. 24 that it would run a new compensation program, dubbed Galaxy Upgrade, for the Galaxy Note 7 users who have exchanged their handset with the Galaxy S7 or the S7 Edge.Those who participate in the program will receive a 50-percent discount, in an indirect manner, on their future purchase of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. Samsung said the participants would have to first pay 12-month installments of the S7 or its curved-screen variant and retu

[THE INVESTOR] Chinese smartphone makers saw their market share increase in the August-September period, while Samsung Electronics and Apple appear to be losing steam.Recent data compiled by global market researcher Trendforce showed that the market share of Samsung and Apple in the third quarter dropped 2 percentage points and 2.1 percentage points, respectively, to 22.3 percent and 12.9 percent, compared to the second quarter of this year. Samsung and Apple took the top two spots in the global

[THE INVESTOR] Prior to Samsung Electronics’ annual reshuffle of its top brass and executives in December, a sense of anxiety has descended upon the world’s largest smartphone maker, which has been hit hard by the recent Galaxy Note 7 crisis, according to sources on Oct. 21.One of the focal points of this year’s reshuffle is whether Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is now practically at the helm of the firm, would dismiss some of the top executives in the firm’s mobile business division, includin

[THE INVESTOR] Facing a series of class action lawsuits in South Korea and the US, Samsung Electronics has reportedly chosen two law firms Gwangjang and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as its legal advisors.The Bell, a Korean news outlet, reported on Oct. 20 that the tech firm had selected law firms as its legal representatives in a bid to deal with the class action lawsuit filed by some US consumers and anticipated legal action of US mobile carriers, including AT&T.The law firms, which have b

[THE INVESTOR] In a desperate move to pacify its displeased Galaxy Note 7 users, Samsung Electronics  is considering cash discounts for their future purchase of the upcoming Galaxy S8 or the next Note phone next year, industry source said on Oct. 20. The new benefits come after a group of angry consumers on Oct. 19 hinted at filing lawsuits against Samsung to seek better compensation in the wake of the unprecedented recall of the fire-prone Note phone in Korea and the US, respectively. In Korea,

[THE INVESTOR] After less than an hour’s ride from Yeouido, a group of journalists hustled out of their bus, touching down in front of the LG Digital Park in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which houses the assembly lines of LG Electronics’ high-end smartphone V20 in Pyeongtaek.The trip was made prior to the launch of the high-end mobile device in the US on Oct. 21, one of the global markets where the Korean tech firm still maintains quite high popularity and market share -- the firm’s market sha

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics’ plan to pack an iris scanner and a dual-lens rear-facing camera in the Galaxy S8 is expected to make up for the financial losses of lens suppliers caused by the short-lived Galaxy Note 7.Samsung is reportedly planning to incorporate the iris scanner, a killer feature of the Note 7, and the dual-lens camera, which is now mainstream in the top-tier handset segment.“Samsung never uses the same camera for its flagship models, upgrading the camera of its flagship d

[THE INVESTOR] Pharmaceutical firm Celltrion’s shares rose 7 percent on Oct. 18 to close at 107,000 won ($US94.9) on expectations of Israeli genetic drug firm Teva’s acquisition of the Korean firm.In an email interview with The Investor, the Israeli firm expressed its interest in buying the Korean firm when the latter is up for sale to strengthen its biosimilar portfolio.Related articles : Teva doesn’t rule out Celltrion acquisitionPfizer to launch Celltrion’s Inflectra in November“We will conti

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is planning to ditch its existing smartphone marketing strategy and may release only one premium model annually to ensure product quality, according to Korean news outlet Newsis on Oct. 18.The tech giant has been releasing two flagship models every year -- Galaxy S in the first half and Galaxy Note in the latter half.This possible adjustment is largely due to the firm’s tight release schedule which effects product quality, the report said.Ever since Samsung was

[THE INVESTOR] The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, a state watchdog, has launched an investigation to find the exact cause of the fire and explosion of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 7, according to industry sources. It is expected that it will take at least three months to wrap up the investigation as the fire and explosion cases could have been caused by multiple factors.A total of 10 members from business, academic and research sectors will serve as an advisory group.The advisor