[THE INVESTOR] Naver, the parent firm of mobile messenger operator LINE, said July 27 that an investors conference for the messenger firm will be held from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on July 27 in Tokyo after the second-quarter earnings report is announced at around 3 p.m. on the same day.The InvestorThe mobile messenger company went public on July 5 in Tokyo and New York and its stock price closed up 4.18 percent at 4,110 yen (US$38.70) on July 25.(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)

[THE INVESTOR] A man in his 30s drove his car into the Korean head office of online game company Nexon in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, on July 24.A part of the glass wall on the first floor was smashed into pieces, but no injuries were reported. The man, whose nationality is reportedly Chinese, drove while intoxicated. He said in a police interrogation that he was infuriated at Nexon’s online games to which he was so addicted that he could not live an ordinary life.“The person who vandalized the o

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics said it would spend 30-50 percent more on-year for research and development into key components of washing machines and air conditioners to maintain its competitiveness in the home appliance market. “The motor and compressor plays a vital role in our home appliance business, so we will invest accordingly,” said Park Jung-hyun, vice president of LG’s compressor and motor business unit at a press meeting in South Gyeongsang Province last week. LG Electronics employees

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics’ stock lost 1.75 percent to close at 1,516,000 won (US$1,335.60) on July 22 in the wake of a recent sex scandal involving the firm’s chairman Lee Kun-hee.Samsung’s share has recently been on an upward trend after crossing the 1.5 million won threshold on July 11 for the first time since 2015. The firm’s stock price continued to rise for seven straight trading days since July 14. Some analysts painted a rosy picture, even anticipating that the price could hit an

[THE INVESTOR] Electronic components firm Samsung Electro-Mechanics said on July 22 that it would invest 263.2 billion won (US$231.90 million) in beefing up its capability in chip packaging, an encapsulation process aimed at preventing erosion and damage.The investment amount accounts for 6.1 percent of the firm’s equity. Through the investment, Samsung Electro-Mechanics will develop the next-generation chip packaging facilities, which will be deployed at Samsung Display’s manufacturing complex

[THE INVESTOR] A consumer group claimed on July 21 that South Korea’s three largest mobile carriers --SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- have made excessive profits by overpricing USIM chips for smartphones.“Utilizing their monopolistic position in the mobile market, the three firms are alleged to have earned 117.3 billion won (US$103.20 million) of unjust profits over the past two years and three months,” said Green Consumer Network in Korea. The head office of SK Telecom in Seoul The figure is bas

[THE INVESTOR] The Fair Trade Commission, the nation’s antitrust regulator, raided Internet giant Google’s Korean head office in Gangnam on July 21 as part of its investigation into allegations that the global Internet giant twisted the arms of local smartphone-makers -- Samsung and LG -- to preinstall its apps on their handsets. Google is also accused of pressuring local mobile game developers to utilize AdMob, a game ad platform run by Google. The firm, whose Android operating system has an ov

[THE INVESTOR] The first virtual reality cafe in the country will be set up in Gangnam, a posh shopping and business district in southern Seoul.Named VR Plus Show Room, the cafe will open on July 22. It will be fitted with 102 desktops, four Oculus Rifts, and four HTC Vibes.A private firm called VR Plus will run the cafe, and is expected to offer a range of virtual reality content free of charge for an unspecified period of time.“I hope the first VR cafe will become a venue where users and virtu

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean tech giant LG Electronics has recently completed the relocation of its European headquarters from London to Germany’s Eschborn, an official from the tech firm said on Thursday. “LG has already completed the relocation process of the European head office to Germany,” Cho Joong-kwon, an LG Electronics spokesperson, said.  LG Electronics’ head office in Seoul. (Yonhap)The relocation marked the second of its kind in less than a year since the firm announced its plan to mo

[THE INVESTOR] LG Group’s two key affiliates LG Electronics and LG Display released their sustainability reports on July 21.In the latest annual reports, the companies provide the details of their current business operations, on-going and future efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses, and corporate social responsibility activities.LG Electronics said in its press release that the number of executives and employees participating in CSR activities increased from 27,888 in 2005 to 93,659 in 2015 and r

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s three largest network operators are expected to post relatively strong earnings for the April-June period thanks to their reduced marketing costs, according to market research firm FnGuide on July 21.The combined revenues of the three companies -- KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus -- are expected to come in at 12.6 trillion won (US$11 billion) on average.The sales figure increased 2.3 percent from the same period of 2016 and 1.4 percent from the previous quarter.KT, which

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean tech giant LG Electronics has recently completed the relocation of its European headquarters from London to Germany’s Eschborn, an official from the tech firm said. “LG has already completed the relocation process of the European head office to Germany,” Cho Joong-kwon, an LG Electronics spokesperson, said, denying recent news reports that the company is moving its Europe headquarters out of London in the wake of "Brexit."“Related discussions were underway before the

[THE INVESTOR] Nexon GT, an affiliate of game developer Nexon, saw its stock price plunge to a record low in 16 weeks amid the snow-balling investigation into founder Kim Jung-ju’s alleged involvement in insider trading.The company’s stock price dropped 31.3 percent from 13,200 won (US$11.60) on April 7 to 10,050 won on July 20 -- the lowest since Feb. 15 when the share price plummeted to 9,920 won.Kim Jung-ju, Nexon founder and the chairman of the game firm’s holding firm NXC. The Investor Kim,

[THE INVESTOR] Chipmaker SK hynix(000660) said July 20 that it will announce its April-June earnings on July 26. A conference call will be also held on the day in which South Korea’s second-largest chipmaker will announce its business plans for the second half this year. 

[THE INVESTOR] The growing global digital signage market is becoming a new battlefield for Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, each vying to gain the upper hand.The shipment volume of digital signage displays in the global market is forecast to grow from 4.4 million in 2015 to 7.7 million units by the year of 2020, according to a recent report by market research firm IHS.The signage market will grow 8.3 percent per year on average, the market researcher forecast. Samsung E

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is expected to release the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 with a 64-gigabyte internal storage capacity only, ditching its existing marketing strategy of offering two storage options. According to industry sources, Samsung has decided to do so considering the latest trend of bigger smartphone storage as mobile users are increasingly enjoying multimedia functions, including high-resolution photos and videos. Its predecessor Galaxy Note 5 came with 32GB and 64GB memory op

[THE INVESTOR] Following its failed attempt to take over cable firm CJ HelloVision earlier this week, network carrier SK Telecom said that it would instead put more focus on the connected car solutions business. The company made its car navigation app T-map available to all mobile subscribers of its rivals KT and LG Uplus on July 19.KT and LG Uplus subscribers can now use the app for free. T-map boasts 18 million subscribers, among which around 8 million use it on a monthly basis.“The decision t

[THE INVESTOR] The Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator, said that a preparation committee for starting ultra-high definition broadcasting in Korea was launched on July 19.The committee consists of 14 members from the government agencies, TV makers, research institutes, and academia, including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics.Lee Ki-joo, a standing committee member of the KCC, and Second ICT Vice Minister Choi Jae-yoo

[THE INVESTOR] The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said July 19 that the ministry will invest a total of 12.5 billion won (US$11 million) in the field of bio-inspired robotics, often called “soft robotics,” over the next seven years. Soft robots are highly flexible and look like sea creatures. The research aims to build machines that handle tasks impossible with traditionally designed robots. A stingray-shaped bio hybrid robot (left), a joint research project of Korea’s Sogang Unive

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is seeking to lure more users to its mobile payment service Samsung Pay with a new loyalty rewards program, tentatively called Samsung Pay Rewards, industry sources said on July 19. The Korean tech giant has been pouring resources into expanding Samsung Pay’s presence globally, which it believes is crucial for its device sales. Since its launch in August 2015, the number of subscribers has reached 2.5 million globally, with the total transaction volume surpassi