[Aju News DB ]
The son of Lee Kun-hee, the ailing boss of South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate, Samsung Group, took a crucial step Monday to take over group ownership as its smartphone business was in trouble due to battery explosions.
Samsung Electronics vice chairman J.Y. Lee was nominated to be a member of its board of directors, the company said in a regulatory filing, adding
the nomination should be approved at a shareholders meeting on October 27.
The world's largest smartphone maker said that as a board member, the 46-year-old son would play a more active role in decision-making.
Lee Kun-hee, 74, has been incommunicado since he was hospitalized in May 2014 after being hit by a stroke. His only son has since struggled to streamline the structure of the group to pave the way for his official debut as group leader.
Monday's move has been anticipated since the group completed a merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, with the merged entity keeping the name of Samsung C&T, the group's trade arm and de facto holding company, in September last year.
The deal helped the founding Lee family cement control by allowing the group to strengthen its cross-ownership structure since the merged affiliates had stakes in other companies. The group has struggled to cut costs and sell non-core units in an effort to raise funds for massive inheritance tax.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
