Report: Samsung To Split Up Into Two Companies After All

Samsung is one of the largest companies in the world, and the number one smartphone manufacturer on the planet. The company has been facing some issues recently, mainly due to the Galaxy Note 7, but it seems like things have calmed down and people are waiting to see what will the company bring to the table next, many people are waiting for the Galaxy S8 to land. That being said, some of you might recall that a US hedge fund, Elliott Associates, suggested that Samsung should split into two companies. This suggestion arrived a couple of weeks ago, and Samsung said that they’ll think about it, essentially.

We haven’t really spotted any news regarding this for a couple of weeks, and then a report surfaced yesterday, saying that the company is about to have a meeting in order to discuss Elliott Associates’ suggestion. Well, it seems like Samsung opted to split after all, at least according to the latest report from Korea. According to the report, Samsung has decided to partially accept Elliot Associates’ suggestion, and will make the decision official later today, after the board meeting. “Samsung Electronics decided to hold a board meeting on November 29. The will clarify their position that we will consider a split-up, a core item on corporate governance restructuring,” said a high-ranking representative of the business world who is quite familiar with Samsung, at least according to the source.

So, what does this mean for the company? Well, splitting the company into two will probably strengthen the rule of Lee Jae-yong, an heir to the company. Samsung will almost certainly discuss their long-term roadmap at today’s meeting, even though they probably won’t share the details with the public, but we should at least get some info out of it. Lee Jae-yong’s equities stand at 18.2% at Samsung, while foreign shareholders’ equities exceed 50%, which means Lee Jae-yong could face the dispute over the managerial right to Samsung Electronics at any time basically. If Samsung splits up, however, the company will get divided into an investment company (holding company) and a business company. Vice President Lee will be able to increase his stake in the holding company through in-kind investment, and would benefit from it, of course. In any case, we’re waiting to get more info, so stay tuned.