With Gregory Lee stepping down from his role as chief of the North American region in favor of a move to Nokia Technologies, Samsung made a slight reshuffle in its top-tier management appointing the former visual display marketing leader Kim Moon-soo as its new European chief and promoting Eom Young-hoon, who previously led the European office as the chief of North America. Gregory Lee is ending his 13-year long career at Samsung where he held various positions including Global Marketing Head and Southeast Asia Chief, as well as leader of the North American branch. He will now act as the head of Nokia Technologies, a consumer tech development oriented subsidiary of Nokia Corporation.
While Samsung has not yet commented on Lee’s sudden departure, the company reiterated the importance of the North American region which generated 34 percent of its 202 trillion won ($175.5 billion) revenue last year. With profit margins at Samsung soaring at an all-time high, it remains to be seen whether the restructuring made by Samsung will impact it at a later stage. With Chairman Lee Kun-hee incapacitated and Vice Chairman Park Geun-hye fighting multiple charges of bribery and perjury, Samsung appears to be having its fair share of leadership troubles at the moment. While Eom Young-hoon, the new North America chief will assume his role in office starting July 17th, Kim moon-soo is expected to take command of the Europe office sometime this week. Samsung has favored the management veterans owing to their vast level of experience and expertise in handling various management positions across all parts of the globe.
Samsung’s business in the western region has seen a massive increase in the past few years with the company marking a 32.8 percent increase in its stock prices since last year. The massive growth in its revenue is heavily linked to Samsung’s investments in the semiconductor business which has seen a substantial increase. The company’s profit generation also provided a hefty hike in personal revenues of the management with Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee becoming the 45th richest individual across the globe whereas Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong rose up to 199th position on the Global Wealth Index.