Samsung stock continues to break records as the company’s shares once again reached an all-time high on Tuesday despite the recent corruption scandal in South Korea that Samsung is in the center of. The shares of the largest business conglomerate in the Far Eastern country were valued at $1752 a piece earlier today, indicating that the company’s investors are still extremely optimistic about its prospects and aren’t worried about the recent arrest of Samsung Group’s Vice Chairman and heir Jay Y. Lee. The influence-peddling scandal that started after the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office alleged that Lee paid over $37 million in bribes to certain organizations linked with President Park Geun-hye and her close associate Choi Soon-sil saw Samsung’s market cap drop by a significant margin after Lee was arrested, but investors apparently didn’t saw that turn of events as the beginning of the end. Instead, investors seemingly believed that’s a great opportunity to purchase the company’s stock at a significant discount, which in turn led to Samsung’s shares reaching another all-time high earlier today.
The current state of affairs apparently confirms previous predictions that Lee’s arrest won’t significantly impact Samsung’s short-term plans or profits. The de facto head of the Seoul-based conglomerate will be in detention for at least three more months as his trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday and the current legal framework mandates for it to be completed by the first half of June. However, if Lee receives a longer prison sentence, Samsung’s long-term plans may be jeopardized seeing how his absence may impact the company’s future mergers and acquisitions. Samsung is currently in the process of completing an $8 billion purchase of Harman International Industries — its largest foreign acquisition ever — and while that transaction seemingly won’t be affected by Lee’s arrest, future deals might be.
Regardless, the fact that Samsung’s stock is still breaking records despite all scandals clearly indicates that the South Korean tech giant remains “too big to fail” for the time being. Time will tell whether the company truly manages to settle recent controversies while remaining relatively unscathed by the entire ordeal, but an update on the situation is bound to follow soon with Lee’s trial starting in just a couple of days.