Samsung founder's grandson takes over as chairman

Samsung Electronics has officially appointed third-generation heir Lee Jae-yong as executive chairman. The appointment of Lee comes after his release from jail in August this year from bribery sentence, as he has since been pardoned, granting him to formally assume the leadership role.

The promotion of Lee Jae-yong, the son of Lee Kun-hee and the grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, is partially symbolic, as he has helmed the Samsung group as the company's vice chairman since 2014, when his late father suffered a heart attack. 

However,  Lee was embroiled in a series of legal troubles, which is widely seen as a factor that prevented the company from quickly promoting him as chairman after the death of his father in 2020. 

After being involved in many controversies and charges, in 2017 Lee was jailed and charged with bribing a confidante of the once-imprisoned former president, Park Geun-hye, but was released in 2018. Again, in January 2021, through a retrial, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Furthermore, on 26 October 2021, Lee was convicted for illegally using the drug propofol multiple times between 2015 and 2020 from a plastic surgery clinic. He was sentenced to paying a fine of $60,055.

"The Board cited the current uncertain global business environment and the pressing need for stronger accountability and business stability in approving the recommendation," the company said in a statement.

In August 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol cleared the bribery charges against Lee, citing Samsung's importance to the economy. Now, his right to work at the company has been restored by South Korea.

After graduating from Seoul National University and pursuing his MBA from Keio University, Lee attended Harvard Business School for about five years in pursuit of a Doctor of Business Administration degree, but did not succeed.

In August 2021, the Korea Herald reported that Lee retained his title as Samsung's "Vice-Chairman" despite not drawing a salary or being registered as an executive in compliance with his work ban.

Nonetheless, the 54-year-old still faces a separate trial on charges of stock price manipulation and auditing violations related to the 2015 merger.

Notably, Lee is now going through one of his toughest stretches as the leader of one of the world's largest PC, mobile and chipmaker. The economic havoc created by Russia's war on Ukraine and rising interest rates imposed by central banks to counter surging prices have slowed consumer spending on technology devices and deflated chip shipments. Not only Samsung, every semiconductor maker today is struggling with the new US restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors and equipment to China. 

Lee’s appointment as its new chairman came shortly after the company reported a 31% dip in profit for the three months through September, its first year-to-year decline in quarterly profit in nearly three years.