Samsung History

Samsung History

Unlike other electronic companies Samsung origins were not involving electronics but other products.

In 1938 the Samsung's founder Byung-Chull Lee set up a trade export company in Korea, selling fish, vegetables, and fruit to China. Within a decade Samusng had flour mills and confectionary machines and became a co-operation in 1951. Humble beginnings.

From 1958 onwards Samsung began to expand into other industries such as financial, media, chemicals and ship building throughout the 1970's. In 1969, Samsung Electronics was established producing what Samsung is most famous for, Televisions, Mobile Phones (throughout 90's), Radio's, Computer components and other electronics devices.

1987 founder and chairman, Byung-Chull Lee passed away and Kun-Hee Lee took over as chairman. In the 1990's Samsung began to expand globally building factories in the US, Britain, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Spain and China until 1997.

In 1997 nearly all Korean businesses shrunk in size and Samsung was no exception. They sold businesses to relieve debt and cut employees down lowering personnel by 50,000. But thanks to the electronic industry they managed to curb this and continue to grow.

The history of Samsung and mobile phones stretches back to over 10 years. In 1993 Samsung developed the 'lightest' mobile phone of its era. The SCH-800 and it was available on CDMA networks.

Then they developed smart phones and a phone combined mp3 player towards the end of the 20th century. To this date Samsung are dedicated to the 3G industry. Making video,camera phones at a speed to keep up with consumer demand. Samsung has made steady growth in the mobile industry and are currently second but competitor Nokia is ahead with more than 100% increase in shares.

Samsung

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the publicly traded company, see Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Group

삼성그룹

三星그룹

Type Chaebol

Industry Conglomerate

Founded 1938

Founder(s) Lee Byung-chull

Headquarters Samsung Town, Suwon, South Korea

Area served Worldwide

Key people Lee Kun-hee

(Chairman of Samsung Electronics)

Products Apparel, chemicals, consumer electronics, electronic

components, medical equipment, precision

instruments, semiconductors,ships, telecommunications

equipment

Services Advertising, construction, entertainment, financial

services, hospitality, information and communications

technology services, medical services,retail

Revenue US$ 220.1 billion (2011)[1]

Net income US$ 21.2 billion (2011)[1]

Total assets US$ 343.7 billion (2011)[1]

Total equity US$ 141.1 billion (2011)[1]

Employees 344,000 (2011)[1]

Subsidiaries Samsung Electronics

Samsung Life Insurance

Samsung Heavy Industries

Samsung C&T

Samsung SDS

Samsung Techwin etc.

Website Samsung.com

This article

contains Koreantext. Without

proper rendering support, you

may see question marks,

boxes, or other

symbolsinstead

of Hangul or Hanja.

Samsung Group (Hangul: 삼성그룹; Hanja: 三星그룹; Korean pronunciation: [sam.sʌŋ ɡɯ'ɾup( ]) is a South

Korean multinational conglomerate companyheadquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises numerous

subsidiaries and affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the largest South

Korean chaebol.

Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chull in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three decades the

group diversified into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities and retail. Samsung

entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-

1970s; these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lee's death in 1987, Samsung was separated

into four business groups - Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group. Since the 1990s

Samsung has increasingly globalised its activities, and electronics, particularly mobile phones and

semiconductors, has become its most important source of income.

Notable Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics (the world's largest information

technology company measured by 2012 revenues),[2] Samsung Heavy Industries  (the world's second-

largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues),[3] and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively

the world's 35th- and 72nd-largest construction companies).[4] Other notable subsidiaries include Samsung Life

Insurance (the world's 14th-largest life insurance company),[5] Samsung Everland (operator of Everland Resort,

the oldest theme park in South Korea),[6] Samsung Techwin (a surveillance, aeronautics, optoelectronics,

automations and weapons technology company) and Cheil Worldwide (the world's 19th-largest advertising

agency measured by 2010 revenues).[7][8]

Samsung has a powerful influence on South Korea's economic development, politics, media and culture, and

has been a major driving force behind the "Miracle on the Han River".[9][10] Its affiliate companies produce

around a fifth of South Korea's total exports.[11]

Contents

[hide]

1 Name

2 History

o 2.1 1938 to 1970

o 2.2 1970 to 1990

o 2.3 1990 to 2000

o 2.4 2000 to 2012

o 2.5 Acquisitions and attempted acquisitions

3 Operations

o 3.1 Subsidiaries and affiliates

o 3.2 Joint ventures

o 3.3 Partially owned companies

4 Major customers

5 Logo

o 5.1 Audio logo

6 Samsung Medical Center

7 Sports Sponsorships

8 Price fixing

o 8.1 DRAM price cartel

o 8.2 CRT glass price cartel

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

[edit]Name

According to the founder of Samsung Group, the meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung (三 星 ) is "tristar"

or "three stars". The word "three" represents something "big, numerous and powerful"; the "stars"

mean eternity.[12]

[edit]History

[edit]1938 to 1970

The headquarters of Samsung Sanghoein Daegu in the late 1930s

In 1938,[13] Lee Byung-chull (1910–1987) of a large landowning family in the Uiryeong county came to the

nearby Daegu city and founded Samsung Sanghoe (삼성상회, 三星商會), a small trading company with forty

employees located in Su-dong (now Ingyo-dong). It dealt in groceries produced in and around the city and

produced its own noodles. The company prospered and Lee moved its head office to Seoul in 1947. When

the Korean War broke out, however, he was forced to leave Seoul and started a sugar refinery

in Busan named Cheil Jedang. After the war, in 1954, Lee founded Cheil Mojik and built the plant in Chimsan-

dong, Daegu. It was the largest woollen mill ever in the country and the company took on the aspect of a major

company.

Samsung diversified into many areas and Lee sought to help establish Samsung as an industry leader in a

wide range of enterprises, moving into businesses such as insurance, securities, and retail. Lee placed great

importance on industrialization, and focused his economic development strategy on a handful of large domestic

conglomerates, protecting them from competition and assisting them financially.[14]

In 1948, Cho Hong-jai (the Hyosung group’s founder) jointly invested in a new company called Samsung

Mulsan Gongsa (삼성물산공사), or the Samsung Trading Corporation, with the Samsung Group founder Lee

Byung-chull. The trading firm grew to become the present-day Samsung C&T Corporation. But after some

years Cho and Lee separated due to differences in management between them. He wanted to get up to a 30%

group share. After settlement, Samsung Group was separated into Samsung Group

and Hyosung Group, Hankook Tire, and others.[15][16]

In the late 1960s, Samsung Group entered into the electronics industry. It formed several electronics-related

divisions, such as Samsung Electronics Devices Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Corning Co.,

and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co., and made the facility in Suwon. Its first product was

a black-and-white television set.

[edit]1970 to 1990

The SPC-1000, introduced in 1982, was Samsung's first personal computer (Korean market only) and uses an

audio cassette tape to load and save data - the floppy drivewas optional[17]

In 1980, Samsung acquired the Gumi-based Hanguk Jeonja Tongsin and entered the telecommunications

hardware industry. Its early products were switchboards. The facility were developed into the telephone and fax

manufacturing systems and became the centre of Samsung's mobile phone manufacturing. They have

produced over 800 million mobile phones to date.[18] The company grouped them together under Samsung

Electronics Co., Ltd. in the 1980s.

After the founder's death in 1987, Samsung Group was separated into four business groups - Samsung Group,

Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group.[19]Shinsegae (discount store, department store) was originally

part of Samsung Group, separated in the 1990s from the Samsung Group along with CJ Group

(Food/Chemicals/Entertainment/logistics) and the Hansol Group (Paper/Telecom). Today these separated

groups are independent and they are not part of or connected to the Samsung Group.[20] One Hansol Group

representative said, "Only people ignorant of the laws governing the business world could believe something so

absurd," adding, "When Hansol separated from the Samsung Group in 1991, it severed all payment guarantees

and share-holding ties with Samsung affiliates." One Hansol Group source asserted, "Hansol, Shinsegae, and

CJ have been under independent management since their respective separations from the Samsung Group."

One Shinsegae Department Store executive director said, "Shinsegae has no payment guarantees associated

with the Samsung Group."[20]

In the 1980s, Samsung Electronics began to invest heavily in research and development, investments that

were pivotal in pushing the company to the forefront of the global electronics industry. In 1982, it built a

television assembly plant in Portugal; in 1984, a plant in New York; in 1985, a plant in Tokyo; in 1987, a facility

inEngland; and another facility in Austin in 1996. As of 2012, Samsung has invested more than US$13 billion in

the Austin facility, which operates under the name Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC. This makes the Austin

location the largest foreign investment in Texas and one of the largest single foreign investments in theUnited

States.[21][22]

[edit]1990 to 2000

Samsung started to rise as an international corporation in the 1990s. Samsung's construction branch was

awarded a contract to build one of the two Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and theBurj

Khalifa in United Arab Emirates.[23] In 1993, Lee Kun-hee sold off ten of Samsung Group's subsidiaries,

downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics,

engineering, and chemicals. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the Sungkyunkwan University foundation.

Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the world in 1992, and is the world's second-largest

chipmaker after Intel (see Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year).[24] In 1995, it

created its first liquid-crystal display screen. Ten years later, Samsung grew to be the world's largest

manufacturer of liquid-crystal display panels. Sony, which had not invested in large-size TFT-LCDs, contacted

Samsung to cooperate, and, in 2006, S-LCD was established as a joint venture between Samsung and Sony in

order to provide a stable supply of LCD panels for both manufacturers. S-LCD was owned by Samsung (50%

plus 1 share) and Sony (50% minus 1 share) and operates its factories and facilities in Tangjung, South Korea.

As on 26 December 2011 it was announced that Samsung had acquired the stake of Sony in this joint venture.

[25]

Compared to other major Korean companies, Samsung survived the 1997 Asian financial crisis relatively

unharmed. However, Samsung Motor was sold to Renault at a significant loss. As of 2010, Renault Samsung is

80.1 percent owned by Renault and 19.9 percent owned by Samsung. Additionally, Samsung manufactured a

range of aircraft from the 1980s to 1990s. The company was founded in 1999 as Korea Aerospace Industries

(KAI), the result of merger between then three domestic major aerospace divisions of Samsung Aerospace,

Daewoo Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Space and Aircraft Company. However, Samsung still

manufactures aircraft engines and gas turbines. [26]

[edit]2000 to 2012

The Samsung pavilion at Expo 2012

In 2001 Samsung Techwin became the sole supplier of a combustor module for the Rolls-Royce Trent

900 used by the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger airliner.[27] Samsung Techwin is also a revenue-

sharing participant in the Boeing's 787 Dreamliner GEnx engine program.[28]

In 2010, Samsung announced a 10-year growth strategy centred around five businesses.[29] One of these

businesses was to be focused on biopharmaceuticals, to which the Company has committed ₩2.1 trillion.[30]

In December 2011, Samsung Electronics sold its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Seagate.[31]

In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung Electronics became the world's largest mobile phone maker by unit sales,

overtaking Nokia, which had been the market leader since 1998.[32][33] In the August 21st edition of the Austin

American-Statesman, Samsung confirmed plans to spend 3 to 4 billion dollars converting half of its Austin chip

manufacturing plant to a more profitable chip.[34] The conversion should start in early 2013 with production on

line by the end of 2013.

On August 24, 2012, 9 U.S jurors ruled that Samsung had to pay Apple Incorporated US$1.05 billion dollars in

damages for violating six of its patents on smartphonetechnology. The award was still less than the US$2.5

billion dollars requested by Apple. The decision also ruled that Apple didn't violate 5 Samsung patents that

were in the case[35] Samsung decried the decision saying that the move could harm innovation in the sector.

[36] It also followed a South Korean ruling that said both companies were guilty of infringing on each other's

intellectual property.[37] In the first trading after the ruling, Samsung shares on the Kospi index fell 7.7%, the

largest fall since October 24, 2008, to 1,177,000 Korean won.[38] Apple then sought to ban the sales of eight

Samsung phones (Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic

4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail) in the United States[39] which has been denied by

Judge Koh.[40]

On September 4, 2012, Samsung announced it plans to examine all of its Chinese suppliers for possible

violations of labor policies. The company said it will carry out audits of 250 Chinese companies that are its

exclusive suppliers to see if children under the age of 16 are being used in their factories.[41]

[edit]Acquisitions and attempted acquisitions

For a company of its size Samsung has made relatively few acquisitions.[42]

Rollei – Swiss watch battle

Samsung Techwin acquired a German camera-maker Rollei on 1995. Samsung (Rollei) used its optic

expertise on the crystals of a new line of 100% Swiss-made watches, designed by a team of

watchmakers at Nouvelle Piquerez S.A. in Bassequort, Switzerland. Rolex's decision to fight Rollei on

every front stemmed from the close resemblance between the two names and fears that its sales

would suffer as a consequence. In the face of such a threat, the Geneva firm decided to confront. This

was also a demonstration of the Swiss watch industry's determination to defend itself when an

established brand is threatened. Rolex sees this front-line battle as vital for the entire Swiss watch

industry. Rolex has succeeded in keeping Rollei out of the German market. On 11 March 1995 the

Cologne District court prohibited the advertising and sale of Rollei watches on German territory.[43][44]

Fokker, a Dutch aircraft maker

Samsung lost a chance to revive its failed bid to take over Dutch aircraft maker Fokker when other

airplane makers rejected its offer to form a consortium. The three proposed partners – Hyundai, Hanjin

and Daewoo – have notified the South Korean government that they will not join Samsung Aerospace

Industries Ltd.[45]

AST Research

Samsung bought AST (1994) and tried to break into North America, but the effort foundered. Samsung

was forced to close the California-based computer maker following mass defection of research staff

and a string of losses.[46]

FUBU clothing and apparel

In 1992, Daymond John had started the company with a hat collection that was made in his house in

the Queens area of New York City. To fund the company, John had to mortgage his house for

$100,000. With his friends, namely J. Alexander Martin, Carl Brown and Keith Perrin, half of his house

was turned into the first factory of FUBU, while the other half remained as the living quarters. Along

with the expansion of FUBU, Samsung invested in FUBU in 1995.[47]

Lehman Brothers Holdings’ Asian operations

Samsung Securities was one of a handful of brokerages looking into Lehman Brothers Holdings. But

Nomura Holdings has reportedly waved the biggest check to win its bid for Lehman Brothers Holdings’

Asian operations, beating out Samsung Securities, Standard Chartered, and Barclays.[48] Ironically,

after few months Samsung Securities Co., Ltd. and City of London-based N M Rothschild &

Sons (more commonly known simply as Rothschild) have agreed to form a strategic alliance in

investment banking business. Two parties will jointly work on cross border mergers and acquisition

deals.[49]

MEDISON Co.,Ltd. - Ultrasound Monitors

In December 2010, Samsung Electronics Co. bought MEDISON Co.,Ltd., a South Korean medical-

equipment company, the first step in a long-discussed plan to diversify from consumer electronics.[50]

Grandis Inc. - memory developer

In July 2011, Samsung announced that it had acquired spin-transfer torque random access memory

(MRAM) vendor Grandis Inc.[51] Grandis will become a part of Samsung's R&D operations and will

focus on development of next generation random-access memory.[52]

Samsung and Sony joint venture - LCD display

On December 26, 2011 the board of Samsung Electronics approved a plan to buy Sony's entire stake

in their 2004 joint liquid crystal display (LCD) venture for 1.08 trillion won ($938.97 million).[53]

mSpot, Inc - Music Service

On May 9, 2012, mSpot announced that it had been acquired by Samsung Electronics with the

intention of a cloud based music service.[54] The succeeding service was Samsung Music Hub.

NVELO, Inc. - Cache Software Developer

In December 2012, Samsung announced that it had acquired the privately held storage software

vendor NVELO, Inc., based in Santa Clara, California.[55] NVELO will become part of Samsung's R&D

operations, and will focus on software for intelligently managing and optimizing next-generation

Samsung SSD storage subsystems for consumer and enterprise computing platforms.

NeuroLogica - Portable CT scanner

In January 2013, Samsung announced that it has acquired medical imaging company NeuroLogica,

part of the multinational conglomerate’s plans to build a leading medical technology business. Terms

of the deal were not disclosed.[56]

[edit]Operations

Samsung Group headquarters atSamsung Town, Seoul

Samsung comprises around 80 companies.[57] It is highly

diversified, with activities in areas including construction,

electronics, financial services, shipbuilding and medical

services.[57]

In FY 2009, Samsung reported consolidated revenues of 220

trillion KRW ($172.5 billion). In FY 2010, Samsung reported

consolidated revenues of 280 trillion KRW ($258 billion), and

profits of 30 trillion KRW ($27.6 billion) (based upon a KRW-

USD exchange rate of 1,084.5 KRW per USD, the spot rate

as of 19 August 2011).[58]However, it should be noted that

these amounts do not include the revenues from all of

Samsung's subsidiaries based outside South Korea.[59]

[edit]Subsidiaries and affiliates

As of April 2011 the Samsung Group comprised 59 unlisted

companies and 19 listed companies, all of which had their

primary listing on the Korea Exchange stock-exchange.[60]

Principal subsidiary and affiliate companies of Samsung

include:

[edit]Ace Digitech

Ace Digitech is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 036550).

[edit]Cheil Industries

Cheil Industries is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 001300).

[edit]Cheil Worldwide

Cheil Worldwide is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 030000).

[edit]Credu

Credu is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-exchange

(number 067280).

[edit]Imarket Korea

Imarket Korea is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 122900).

[edit]Samsung Card

Samsung Card is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 029780).

====Samsung C&T Corporation====/naymah3 Samsung

C&T Corporation is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (000830).

[edit]Samsung Electro-Mechanics

Samsung Electro-Mechanics, established in 1973 as a

manufacturer of key electronic components, is

headquartered in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. It is

listed on the Korea Exchange stock-exchange (number

009150).[61]

[edit]Samsung Electronics

Main article: Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a multinational electronics

and information technology company headquartered

in Suwon and the flagship company of the Samsung Group.

[62] Its products include air conditioners, computers, digital

televisions, liquid crystal displays (including thin film

transistors (TFTs) and active-matrix organic light-emitting

diodes (AMOLEDs)), mobile phones, monitors, printers,

refrigerators, semiconductors and telecoms networking

equipment.[63] It is the world's largest mobile phone maker by

unit sales in the first quarter of 2012, with a global market

share of 25.4%.[64] It is also theworld's second-largest

semiconductor maker by 2011 revenues (after Intel).[65]

Samsung Electronics is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 005930).

The headquarters of Samsung Engineering in Seoul

[edit]Samsung Engineering

Main article: Samsung Engineering

Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd. is a multinational

construction company headquartered in Seoul. It was

founded in January 1970. Its principal activity is the

construction of oil refining plants; upstream oil and gas

facilities; petrochemical plants and gas plants; steel making

plants; power generation plants; water treatment facilities;

and other infrastructure.[66] It achieved total revenues of

9,298.2 billion won (US$8.06 billion) in 2011.[67]

Samsung Engineering is listed on the Korea Exchange

stock-exchange (number 028050).

[edit]Samsung Fine Chemicals

Samsung Fine Chemicals is listed on the Korea Exchange

stock-exchange (number 004000).

[edit]Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance

Main article: Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. is a multinational

general insurance company headquartered in Seoul.[68] It

was founded in January 1952 as Korea Anbo Fire and

Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. and was renamed Samsung Fire

& Marine Insurance in December 1993.[69] Samsung Fire &

Marine Insurance offers services including accident

insurance, automobile insurance, casualty insurance, fire

insurance, liability insurance, marine insurance, personal

pensions and loans.[70] As of March 2011 it had operations in

10 countries and 6.5 million customers.[70] Samsung Fire &

Marine Insurance had a total premium income of US$11.7

billion in 2011 and total assets of US$28.81 billion at 31

March 2011.[70] It is the largest provider of general insurance

in South Korea.

Samsung Fire has been listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange since 1975 (number 000810).[70]

[edit]Samsung Heavy Industries

Main article: Samsung Heavy Industries

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. is a shipbuilding and

engineering company headquartered in Seoul. It was

founded in August 1974. Its principal products are bulk

carriers, container vessels, crude oil tankers, cruisers,

passenger ferries, material handling equipment steel and

bridge structures.[71] It achieved total revenues of 13,358.6

billion won in 2011 and is the world's second-largest

shipbuilder by revenues (after Hyundai Heavy Industries).[72]

[73]

Samsung Heavy Industries is listed on the Korea Exchange

stock-exchange (number 010140).

[edit]Samsung Life Insurance

Main article: Samsung Life Insurance

Samsung Life Insurance Co., Ltd. is a multinational life

insurance company headquartered in Seoul. It was founded

in March 1957 as Dongbang Life Insurance and became an

affiliate of the Samsung Group in July 1963.[74] Samsung

Life's principal activity is the provision of individual life

insurance and annuity products and services.[75] As of

December 2011 it had operations in seven countries, 8.08

million customers and 5,975 employees.[74] Samsung Life

had total sales of 22,717 billion won in 2011 and total assets

of 161,072 billion won at 31 December 2011.[74] It is the

largest provider of life insurance in South Korea.

Samsung Life Insurance is listed on the Korea Exchange

stock-exchange (number 032830).

[edit]Samsung Machine Tools

Samsung Machine Tools of America is a national distributor

of machines in the United States.[76]

[edit]Samsung SDI

Samsung SDI is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 006400). On December 5, 2012 the

antitrust regulators of European Union fined Samsung SDI

and several other major companies for fixing prices of

TV cathode-ray tubes in two cartels lasting nearly a decade.

[77]

[edit]Samsung Securities

Samsung Securities is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 016360).

[edit]Samsung Techwin

Samsung Techwin is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 012450).

[edit]Shilla Hotels and Resorts

Shilla Hotels and Resorts is listed on the Korea Exchange

stock-exchange (number 008770).

[edit]SI Corporation

SI Corporation is listed on the Korea Exchange stock-

exchange (number 012750).

[edit]Joint ventures

[edit]Current

[edit]aT Grain

State-run Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. set up the

venture, aT Grain Co., in Chicago, with three other South

Korean companies, Korea Agro-Fisheries owns 55 percent

of aT Grain, while Samsung C&T

Corp, Hanjin Transportation Co. and STX Corporation. each

hold 15 percent.[78]

[edit]Brooks Automation Asia

Brooks Automation Asia Co., Ltd. is a joint venture

between Brooks Automation (70%) and Samsung (30%)

which was established in 1999. The venture locally

manufactures and configure vacuum wafer handling

platforms and 300mm Front-Opening Unified Pod (FOUP)

load port modules, and designs, manufactures and

configures atmospheric loading systems for flat panel

displays.[79]

[edit]POSCO-Samsung Slovakia Steel Processing

Center

Company POSS - SLPC s.r.o. was founded in 2007 as a

subsidiary of Samsung C & T Corporation, Samsung C & T

Deutschland and the company POSCO.[80]

[edit]POSCO-Samsung Suzhou Steel Processing

Center

[80]

[edit]Samsung Air China Life Insurance

Samsung Air China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. is a 50:50 joint

venture between Samsung Life Insurance and China

National Aviation Corporation. It was established in Beijing in

July 2005.[81]

[edit]Samsung Bioepis

Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Samsung

Biologics (85%) and the United States-based Biogen

Idec (15%).[82]

[edit]Samsung Biologics

Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung Everland Inc. will

each own a 40 percent stake in the venture, with Samsung

C&T Corp. and Durham, North Carolina-

based Quintiles each holding 10 percent. It will contract-

make medicines made from living cells, and Samsung Group

plans to expand into producing copies of biologics

including Rituxan, the leukemia and lymphoma treatment

sold by Roche Holding AGand Biogen Idec Inc.[83]

[edit]Samsung BP Chemicals

Samsung BP Chemicals Co., Ltd is a 50:50 joint venture

between Samsung and the United Kingdom-based BP,

which was established in 1989 to produce and supply high-

value-added chemical products.

[edit]Samsung Corning Precision Glass

Samsung Corning Precision Glass is a joint venture between

Samsung and Corning, which was established in 1973 to

manufacture and market cathode ray tube glass for black

and white televisions. The company’s first LCD

glass substrate manufacturing facility opened in Gumi, Korea

in 1996.

[edit]Samsung Sumitomo LED Materials

Samsung Sumitomo LED Materials is a Korea-based joint

venture between Samsung LED Co., Ltd., an LED maker

based in Suwon, Korea-based and the Japan-

based Sumitomo Chemical. The JV will carry out research

and development, manufacturing, and sales of sapphire

substrates for LEDs.[84]

[edit]Samsung Thales

Samsung Thales Co., Ltd. (until 2001 known as Samsung

Thomson-CSF Co., Ltd.) is a joint venture between Samsung

Techwin and the France-based aerospace and defence

company Thales. It was established in 1978 and is based in

Seoul.[85]

[edit]Samsung Total

Samsung Total is a 50:50 joint venture between Samsung

and the France-based oil group Total S.A. (more specifically

Samsung General Chemicals and Total Petrochemicals).

[edit]SB LiMotive

SB LiMotive is a 50:50 joint company of Robert Bosch

GmbH(commonly known as Bosch) and Samsung SDI

founded in June 2008. The joint venture develops and

manufactures lithium-ion batteries for use in hybrid-, plug-

in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.

[edit]SD Flex

SD Flex Co., Ltd. was founded on October 2004 as a joint

venture corporation by Samsung and DuPont, one of the

world's largest chemical company.[86]

[edit]Sermatech Korea

Sermatech owns 51% of its stock, while Samsung owns the

remaining 49%. The U.S. firm Sermatech International, for a

business focusing on highly specialized aircraft construction

processes such as special welding and brazing.[87]

[edit]Siam Samsung Life Insurance

Samsung Life Insurance, holds a 37% stake while Saha

Group also has a 37.5% stake in the joint venture, with the

remaining 25% owned by Thanachart Bank.[88]

[edit]Siltronic Samsung Wafer

Siltronic Samsung Wafer Pte. Ltd, the joint venture by

Samsung and wholly owned Wacker Chemie subsidiary

Siltronic, was officially opened in Singapore in June 2008.[89]

[edit]SMP

SMP Ltd. is a joint venture between Samsung Fine

Chemicals and MEMC. MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. and

an affiliate of Korean conglomerate Samsung are forming a

joint venture to build a polysiliconplant.

[edit]Steco

Steco Co., Ltd. is established as the joint - venture company

with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and Japan TORAY in

1995.[90]

[edit]Stemco

Stemco is a joint venture between Samsung Electro-

Mechanics and the Japan-based Toray Industries which was

established in 1995.[91]

[edit]Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology

Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation (TSST)

is joint venture between Samsung Electronics

and Toshiba of Japan which specialises in optical disc drive

manufacturing. TSST was formed in 2004, and Toshiba

owns 51% of its stock, with Samsung owns the remaining

49%.

[edit]Defunct

[edit]Alpha Processor

In 1998, Samsung created a U.S. joint venture with Compaq

—called Alpha Processor Inc. (API)--to help it enter the high-

end processor market. The venture was also aimed at

expanding Samsung's non-memory chip business by

fabricating Alpha processors. At the time, Samsung and

Compaq invested $500 million in Alpha Processor.[92]

[edit]GE-Samsung Lighting

GE Samsung Lighting was a joint venture between Samsung

and the GE Lighting subsidiary of General Electric. The

venture was established in 1998 and was broken up

2009. [93]

[edit]Global Steel Exchange

Global Steel Exchange was a joint venture formed in 2000

between Samsung, the United States-based Cargill, the

Switzerland-based Duferco Group, and the Luxembourg-

based Tradearbed (now part of theArcelorMittal), to handle

their online buying and selling of steel.[94]

[edit]S-LCD

S-LCD Corporation was a joint venture between Samsung

Electronics (50% plus one share) and the Japan-based Sony

Corporation (50% minus one share) which was established

in April 2004. On December 26, 2011, Samsung Electronics

announced that it would acquire all of Sony's shares in the

venture.

[edit]Partially owned companies

[edit]Atlantico Sul

Samsung Heavy Industries currently owns 10 percent of the

Brazilian shipbuilder Atlantico Sul, which operates the largest

shipyard in South America. Joao Candido, the largest ship

built to date in Brazil, was built by Atlantico Sul with

technology supplied by Samsung Heavy Industries.[95]

[edit]DGB Financial Group

Samsung Life Insurance currently holds a 7.4% stake in the

South Korean banking company DGB Financial Group,

making it the largest shareholder.[96]

[edit]Doosan Engine

Samsung Heavy Industries currently holds a 14.1 percent

stake in Doosan Engine, making it the second-biggest

shareholder.[97]

[edit]Korea Aerospace Industries

Samsung Techwin currently holds a 10 percent stake

in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). Other major

shareholders include the state-owned Korea Finance

Corporation (26.75 percent), Hyundai Motor (10 percent)

and Doosan (10 percent).[98]

[edit]MEMC KOREA

MEMC's joint venture with Samsung Electronics Company,

Ltd. In 1990, MEMC entered into a joint venture agreement

to construct a silicon plant in Korea.[99]

[edit]Rambus Incorporated

Samsung currently owns 4.19 percent of Rambus

Incorporated.[100]

[edit]Renault Samsung Motors

Samsung currently owns 19.9 percent of the automobile

manufacturer Renault Samsung Motors.

[edit]Seagate Technology

Samsung currently owns 9.6 percent of Seagate

Technology, making it the second-largest shareholder.

Under a shareholder agreement, Samsung has the right to

nominate an executive to Seagate’s Board of Directors.[101]

[edit]SungJin Geotec

Samsung Engineering holds a 10 percent stake in Sungjin

Geotec, an offshore oil drilling company that is a subsidiary

of POSCO.[102]

[edit]Taylor Energy

Taylor Energy is an independent American oil company that

drills in the Gulf of Mexico based in New Orleans, Louisiana.

[103] Samsung Oil & Gas USA Corp., subsidiaries of

Samsung, currently owns 20% of Taylor Energy.

[edit]Major customers

The world's largest oil and gas project, Sakhalin II- Lunskoye

platform under construction. The topside facilities of the LUN-A

(Lunskoye) and PA-B (Piltun Astokhskoye) platforms are being built

at the Samsung Heavy Industry shipyard in South Korea.[104]

Major customers of Samsung include:

Royal Dutch Shell

Samsung Heavy Industries will be the sole provider of liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities

worth up to US$50 billion to Royal Dutch Shell for the next 15 years.[105][106]

Shell has unveiled plans to build the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platform. At

Samsung Heavy Industries' shipyard on Geoje Island in South Korea, work is about to start[when?] on a

"ship" that, when finished and fully loaded, will weigh 600,000 tonnes – the world's biggest "ship". That

is six times as much as the biggest US aircraft carrier.[107]

United Arab Emirates government

A consortium of South Korean firms - including Samsung, Korea Electric Power Corp and Hyundai -

has won a deal worth 40 billion dollars to build nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates.[108]

Ontario government

The government of the Canadian province of Ontario signed off one of the world's largest renewable

energy projects, signing a $6.6bn deal that will result in2,500 MW of new wind and solar

energy capacity being built. Under the agreement a consortium – led by Samsung and the Korea

Electric Power Corporation – will manage the development of 2,000 MW-worth of new wind

farms and 500 MW of solar capacity, while also building a manufacturing supply chain in the province.

[109]

[edit]Logo

The Samsung Byeolpyo noodles logo,

used from late 1938 until replaced in

1958.

The Samsung Group logo, used from late

1969 until replaced in 1979

The Samsung Group logo (“three stars”),

used from late 1980 until replaced in

1992

The Samsung Electronics logo, used from

late 1980 until replaced in 1992

Samsung's current logo, in use since

1993.[110]

The current Samsung logo design is

intended to emphasize flexibility and

simplicity while conveying a dynamic and

innovative image through the ellipse, the

symbol of the universe and the world

stage. The openings on both ends of the

ellipse where the letters "S" and "G" are

located are intended to illustrate the

company's open-mindedness and the

desire to communicate with the world. The

English rendering is a visual expression of

its core corporate vision, excellence in

customer service through technology.

The basic color in the logo is blue, the

color that the company has had used in its

logos for years. The blue color symbolizes

stability and reliability, which are precisely

what the company wishes to accomplish

with its customers. It also stands for social

responsibility as a corporate citizen, a

company official explained.[111]

[edit]Audio logo

Samsung has an audio logo, which

consists of the notes E♭, A♭, D♭, E♭. The

audio logo was produced

by Musikvergnuegen and written by Walter

Werzowa.[112][113]

[edit]Samsung Medical Center

Samsung donates around US$100 million

per annum to the Samsung Medical

Center, a non-profit healthcare provider

founded by the group in 1994.

[114] Samsung Medical Center incorporates

Samsung Seoul Hospital, Kangbook

Samsung Hospital, Samsung Changwon

Hospital, Samsung Cancer Center and

Samsung Life Sciences Research Center.

Samsung Cancer Center, located in

Seoul, is the largest cancer center in Asia.

[115] Samsung Medical Center and the

multinational pharmaceuticals

company Pfizer have agreed to

collaborate on research to identify the

genomic mechanisms responsible for

clinical outcomes in hepatocellular

carcinoma.[116]

[edit]Sports Sponsorships

For more details on Samsung's sports

sponsorships, see Samsung Sports.

Samsung

sponsors Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.

[117] Samsung are the current sponsors of

the English Premier League football

club Chelsea Football Club. They also

sponsor English Football League

Oneclubs Swindon Town and Leyton

Orient.[118]

Samsung, which started as a domestic

sponsor of the Olympics in Seoul 1988,

has been a worldwide Olympic partner

since the 1998 Winter Olympics.[119]

Samsung operating many sports clubs,

football club Suwon Samsung Bluewings,

baseball club Samsung Lions, basketball

club Seoul Samsung Thunders, volleyball

club Daejeon Samsung Fire Bluefangsand

etc.

Samsung also sponsors a

former Starcraft Brood War and

current Starcraft II Professional Gaming

Team named Samsung Khan. Samsung

has sponsored the team since 2000.

[edit]Price fixing

[edit]DRAM price cartel

Samsung was fined EUR 145,727,000 for

being part of a price cartel of ten

companies for DRAMs which lasted from 1

July 1998 to 15 June 2002. The company

received, like most of the other members

of the cartel, a 10-% reduction for

acknowledging the facts to investigators.

Samsung had to pay 90% of their share of

the settlement, but Micron avoided

payment as a result of having initially

revealed the case to investigators.[120]

[edit]CRT glass price cartel

Samsung Corning Precision Materials

participated in a price cartel of four

companies for CRT glass which lasted

from 23 February 1999 to 27 December

2004. Samsung Corning Precision

Materials received full immunity and was

therefore not fined as it revealed the

existence of the cartel to the European

Commission.[121]

[edit]See also

Economy of South Korea

History

Miracle on the Han River

1997 financial crisis

Companies

List of companies

Chaebol

Samsung (Chaebol)

Hyundai (Chaebol)

LG (Chaebol)

SK (Chaebol)

Industry

Currency

Communications

Tourism

Transportation

Real estate

Financial services

Nuclear power

Rankings

Lee Byung-chulFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee Byung-chul

Hangul 이병철

Hanja 李秉喆

Revised Romanization I Byeong-cheol

McCune–Reischauer Yi Pyŏngch'ŏl

Lee Byung-chull (February 12, 1910 in Uiryeong, Gyeongsangnam-do – November 19, 1987 in Seoul) was

the founder of the Samsung Group and one of South Korea's most successful businessmen. With the breakup

of the Hyundai chaebol, Samsung is now South Korea's largest business group[1]

[edit]Life

He was the son of a wealthy landowning family (a branch of the Gyeongju Lee clan). He attended college

at Waseda University in Tokyo, but he did not complete his degree. Upon the early death of his father, he used

his inheritance to open a rice mill in his home town of Kyungnam. That endeavor was not especially successful

so he established a trucking business in Daegu on March 1, 1938, which he named Samsung Trading Co, the

forerunner to Samsung.[2] Samsung means "Three Stars" which explains the initial corporate logos.

Despite problems caused by Japan's rule over Korea, by 1945 Samsung was transporting goods throughout

Korea and to other countries. The company was based in Seoul by 1947. It was one of the ten largest "trading

companies" when the Korean War started in 1950.[3] With the conquest of Seoul by the North Korean army, Lee

was forced to relocate his business to Pusan. The massive influx of U.S. troops and equipment into Pusan over

the next year and a half of the war proved to be highly beneficial to Lee's trucking company.[3]

In 1953 he founded Cheil Sugar (currently CJ CheilJedang) which became very successful and profitable.

Using the income from Cheil Sugar, he founded numerous other companies which sold products in a wide

variety of markets: textiles (Cheil Wool Textile Co.), cars, insurance, department stores (Shinsegae), and

consumer electronics.

In 1961 when General Park seized power, Lee was in Japan and for some time he did not return to South

Korea. Eventually a deal was struck and Lee returned but Samsung had to give up control over the banks it

acquired and follow economic directives from Park's government.[3]

Later in life he served as chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries and was known as the richest man in

Korea.[1]

After his death, his estate (Ho-Am) was opened to the public for tours. His collection of Korean art is

considered one of the largest and finest private collections in the country and it features a number of art objects

that have been designated "National Treasures" by the Korean government.[4] Ho-Am is located a short

distance from the Everland park, South Korea's most popular amusement park (Everland is also owned by the

Samsung Group).

The Ho-Am Prize was founded in 1991, named after Lee's Art-name.

(10) Lee Byung-chull: founder of Samsung Group

By Andrei Lankov

The history of South Korea after 1945 was of tremendous and almost unprecedented economic

success. The country, which as recently as 1960 was universally seen as a basket case, a nation

without any economic prospects, was transformed into one of the worldmajor economies within the

lifespan of just one generation.

This impressive transformation was led by large business conglomerates known as chaebol. The

South Korean economy has been dominated by these vast enterprises, producing everything from

supertankers and passenger cars to petrochemicals. The majority of these conglomerates are

essentially grossly overgrown family businesses. Each chaebol was (and most still are) owned and

managed by a particular extended family. 

There are black myths that surround the chaebol as well. According to the left in South Korea, the

chaebol are an embodiment of the evil capitalist forces. Their rise was possible through collusion

with corrupt politicians and greedy, ruthless profiteers. According to this myth, the corporations were

established by former pro-Japanese collaborators and grew only because of the preferential

treatment granted to them by the South’s military dictators. 

So were the chaebol agents of economic breakthrough whose efforts brought affluence, education

and health to millions of Koreans? Or were they the incarnation of corruption and back room

dealing? As is usually the case, both myths contain a kernel of truth, but are wrong on some

important counts as well.

Nowadays the best known and arguably most powerful group is Samsung. And it seems that its

history is the best illustration of the history of Korean business, with its dirty deals and brilliant

breakthroughs. 

It is often stated by left-wing intellectuals in Korea that the nation’s chaebol were once founded by

pro-Japanese collaborators. It is partially true but there is one important caveat — most present-day

chaebol were very humble businesses before 1945. Their founders had cozy relations with colonial

administrators (otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to run anything more than a market stall), but

none of them were big time collaborators in that era. Those Korean businessmen who were most

notorious for their collaboration did not fare well after 1945. 

Samsung was typical in this regard. Its founder, Lee Byung-chull, was born into a landlords’ family.

He would briefly study at Waseda University in Japan but didn’t graduate and came back home

where he was involved with a number of family business ventures. 

In 1938, then exactly 30 years old, Lee established a small trading company in his native city of

Daegu. It specialized in imports and exports, and eventually began to produce alcoholic beverages

and foodstuff. For investment he used 30,000 won which was given to him by his family. At the time

it was equal to 2,000 average monthly salaries, so it roughly had the purchasing power of about $5

million in today’s money. The company was called Samsung or “three stars.” Indeed the Samsung

logo included the depiction of three stars until 1993 when the company decided to go international

big time and got rid of its old symbolic heritage. 

Most of the chaebol were once established by the scions of landowning families. However, while the

inherited wealth did matter enormously, it did not guarantee anything. Many thousands of landlords’

sons joined the race, but merely a few hundred succeeded and only a few dozen struck it really big,

becoming chaebol owners. A lot of other qualities, both “good” and “bad” were necessary to develop

a small family business into a huge conglomerate.

With the collapse of the colonial regime, Lee made a brave and smart move: in 1947 he moved the

company’s headquarters to Seoul. For all practical purposes, Seoul had become Korea itself. The

nation’s capital was the only place where names and fortunes were made. 

Both the company and its founder survived the turbulent years of the Korean War (not a foregone

conclusion since many an aspiring entrepreneur faced a North Korean firing squad in those times).

Lee knew how to succeed. He maintained cozy relations with the Rhee Syng-man government and

this helped him to secure the most profitable contracts, often related to foreign trade. Samsung also

produced sugar and textile. By the late 1950s, Lee was reputed to be the richest man in Korea, but

was also seen as a symbol of corruption. 

Therefore we should not be too surprised that the downfall of Rhee in 1960 had a major negative

impact on Samsung’s standing. When in May 1961 the Korean army staged a military coup, then

lauded by the army propagandists as the “May 16th Revolution,” Lee was overseas, in the house of

his Japanese wife. He had a Korean wife too, but East Asian businessmen have never been known

for their phobia of polygamy (he maintained two households almost openly). 

In Tokyo he learned that he was at the very top of the list of corrupt businessmen to be investigated

by the new regime. After some deliberation, he came back to Seoul to hold meetings with Major

General Park Chung-hee, head of the emerging military regime. They made a deal: all of his past

misdeeds would be forgiven so long as he would be willing to work toward the major goal of the new

government, that being the transformation of Korea into an industrial nation.

Park and his group were firm believers in economic efficiency and growth. They wanted to remake

Korea, then one of the poorest nations in all of Asia, into an industrial powerhouse. Back then, this

would have been seen as a pipe dream, since Korea had no resources, no capital and no expertise,

even though it did have an abundance of cheap and disciplined labor.

Korea’s government decided to remake the country into a huge factory which would import raw

materials and technology and then export the finished products overseas. 

But Park believed that only big companies could succeed in the international market. So, he

handpicked a few dozen firms which were given major privileges and government support. Their

mission was to produce and export as much as possible.

The choice of the candidates was largely based on the personal preference of Park himself. At the

time, most outside observers were not approving of the Korean approach, insisting that it would

bring about much corruption while the then laissez-faire policies of Taiwan were more preferable.

Surprisingly, the critics were proved wrong. The potential for corruption was present, but it never

became a reality — at least on the scale that was feared and expected in the 1960s.

Needless to say, Korean capitalists did not become squeaky clean overnight — old habits lingered

(and still do). In 1966 Samsung found itself at the centre of a major scandal related to illegal imports.

Lee had to resign and spend a few years in self-imposed exile. Nonetheless on balance graft

remained under control.

From the 1960s and until the present day, Samsung has remained one of Korea’s largest

companies (usually it has been either the largest or second largest chaebol). Initially Samsung

Group concentrated on light industry, but as the economy grew and experience was amassed, the

company began to venture into new, far more challenging areas. Samsung Electronics was founded

in 1969 and in the 1970s the Samsung Group was selected by Park’s government to become the

leader of the emerging shipbuilding industry. 

Nowadays, Samsung Heavy Industries, a subsidiary of the Samsung Group, is the world’s second

largest shipbuilder. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is the world’s biggest producer of LCD and

LED displays and computer chips.

Like most other founding fathers of the Korean industry, Lee demonstrated not only shrewdness, but

also great business acumen and unbelievable industriousness. During his lifetime, Samsung had the

reputation of a tightly managed company where the boss knew everything. He allegedly always sat

in on every hiring interview for every new employee from 1957 until 1986 — a total of some 100,000

interviews. He liked to cultivate an image of a paternalistic, caring employer but was also notoriously

nasty when it came to dealing with trade unions. 

Lee died in 1987 leaving the company to his son Lee Kun-hee. Unlike his father who never

graduated from a university, Lee junior has degrees from prestigious schools in Korea, Japan and

the United States. Interestingly he graduated from Waseda University (which his father had

attended). 

The large Lee family with its conflicts, quarrels and political influence, has kept Korean journalists

busy for a quarter of a century. They have succeeded in one regard: Samsung Group has not just

stayed at the top of Korea’s business hierarchy but managed to remain a family conglomerate even

in the most difficult times. 

In the late 1990s, in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis, many chaebol were dismantled or

the founders lost control. However this did not happen to Samsung. It is still run by the numerous

descendants of Lee Byung-chull and the centenary of his birth in 2010 being celebrated with much

pomp. 

He was shrewd, hardworking, ruthless, smart and a brilliant manipulator of men, like most of his

peers, the founding fathers of the modern Korean economy.

Hail the Father of Business, Lee Byung-chul

Cover Stories

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Celebrated its centenary year of Hoam Lee Byung-chul’s birthday

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

B A N G J U N G - H Y U N

Lee Byung-chul (left), Samsung Group's founder, and Lee Kun-hee (second from the left),

former chairman of Samsung Group, are having a meeting with other board members in

1978.

Samsung Group, Korea's largest conglomerate, celebrated its 100th anniversary of the late Hoam Lee

Byung-chul's birthday at the Hoam Art Hall in Seoul from February 4, and carried on till February 10.

On this particular occasion, Lee's family, both former and incumbent Samsung executives, other

entrepreneurial leaders, politicians and bureaucrats attended and commemorated Lee's

100th birthday. Thus, all the attendees honored and paid respects to a man whose epic career

spanned Korea's conglomerate formation, from the decades of harsh authoritarian rule to its

transformation into a capitalistic economy. The event held an opening concert on February 4, in which

featured soprano Jo Su-mi, violist Kim Jee-yun, pianist Kim Young-ho, and the Bucheon Philharmonic

Orchestra. Meanwhile, Lee's exhibition took place throughout the event period, presenting Lee's

drawings, photographs, and sayings. On the last day of the event, an academic forum was held at

Shilla Hotel in Seoul, where many noted scholars filled the seats and delivered critical lectures. Among

them was Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna who gave a lecture on the growth of

Korean economy and the roles of entrepreneurs.

Who is Hoam Lee Byung-chul?

"Infinite technological innovations and progressive development of revolutionary technologies will

revive Korean economy and sustain economic prosperity, given that Korea lacks natural resources"

said Hoam Lee Byung-chul, founder of the Samsung Group and the father of Korean industry. Time

and again called 'the richest man in Korea,' he carved out Samsung Group from a small exports

company in 1938 into one of the largest Korean corporations. He stayed loyal to his own way of

thinking, in which robust business contributes to the nation's well-being and society. Thus, the nation

and its corporations are inseparable and are joined at the hip. Such ideology may well be stemmed

from his childhood background where he was born during the time of Japanese reign, and Korea was

dependent upon Japanese rule. In other words, among many factors, he realized how a country is

vulnerable against lack of vigorous ventures keeping the nation afloat and that the nation's stake was

poised on the edge of the chair without the existence of strong capitalism. Hence, it is not surprising

that he placed business in the service of his country. Lee's unflagging efforts to construct and embed

free enterprise in Korea to strengthen the nation earned him the reputation as a passionate champion

of economic prosperity and welfare. His efforts led to an unprecedented thaw in relations with the

government and cultivated capitalist ambition in the forthcoming future.

What nurtured Samsung to the top was in Hoam Lee's management skill

Lee Byung-chul held keen insight that cultivated a huge enterprise while avoiding a mess of pottage

and also possessed laudable leadership. He maintained his principles throughout his life that

a chairman of a company should consider three basic ideas while balancing these three: market,

people, and management. Also, he trusted his employees with all his heart that he let the person in

charge to take care of the work, without his direct supervision. The most interesting choice he made

for the company's security and well-being was selecting a psychologist as his consultant instead of a

business specialist. He recognized that management is not about playing with numbers, but managing

people; also, he understood that his employees are the most valuable assets to his company.

Lee Byung-chul being awarded on honorary doctorate at Boston College in 1982

Samsung History

Samsung Group gave birth to the notion of conglomerate. President Park Chung-hee staged an

anticorruption campaign in 1961. At the time, Lee was residing in Japan, refusing to go back to Korea

and confront the incumbent president, because he did not want to walk into the mouse trap where he

will be the main target as the richest man in Korea. Nonetheless, he and President Park made a deal

that ultimately became the pillar for Korea's conglomerate. The deal is as follows: Samsung is allowed

to keep the business running, but it has to be the carrier that implements governmental projects that

are in concurrent with President Park's plan. Although the deal draws a picture of Lee succumbing to

the government, such plan established the nature of Korean economic system, in which the

government and the business circle formed a common ground of interest that will benefit the two.

Thus, business profits the companies earn in Korea can well be interpreted as the government

partially subsidizing in one way or another. Samsung, however, in a long term, made progress day

after day and month after month that it now sees record profits and revenue.

It started as an exports company in 1938, and soon mushroomed and employed well over 400,000

employees and manufactures electronics, vehicles, chemicals, and textiles, ships, and runs hotels in

its subsidiaries. Now Samsung Electronics is known to be one of the top 10 brands in the world and it

operates in five major business areas: Telecommunication, Digital and Home Appliances, Digital

Media, LCD, and Semiconductors. Intimidated and revered by Japan, Taiwan and other countries

worldwide and not to mention domestically, Samsung Electronics with its hard-line expansion had

managed to crush market share of every company to become the top manufacturer of DRAM, home

appliances, flash memory, DVD-combo players, and several other devices and is now the forerunner in

plasma displays and next generation mobile phones. Recently, Samsung even became a dominant

player in notoriously selective Japan.

Samsung's development in chronological order

At the age of 26, he used his father's inherited money to start a rice mill in his home town, Kyungnam.

The venture went off to a rocky road so he moved to Daegu and began a trucking and real estate

business naming it Samsung, which means 'three stars'. To make it worse the business went bankrupt

due to credit squeeze that came from Japanese invasion of Manchuria. However, Lee got back on the

rails and started business where he added domestic and international trading to the former trucking

and real estate business that he had originally started from. And that is how Samsung Trading

Company developed in the midst of tense situation in the Korean peninsula. In 1953, he started the

foremost sugar refining company in Korea called 'Cheil Sugar'. Cheil meaning 'first' flourished

afterwards and made high profits. In 1952, he established additional subsidiary called Cheil Wool

Textile Company. Since then, Samsung Electronics emerged and had become the dominant group

even outshining worldwide leader Intel in investment for 2005 fiscal records. In 1971, Samsung

Electronics succeeded exporting domestic TVs to overseas for the first time and invented the world's

fourth VCR consecutively. From then on, Samsung produced color TVs for the first time in Korea in

1976, and was rated as number one black-and-white color TV manufacturer in the world. In this

fashion, Samsung went from success to success; riding on the crest of a wave and with no doubt Lee

planted the seeds of these successes. He also served as chairman of the Federation of Korean

Industries, a prominent business organization that is comprised of the country's leading business

executives.

Samsung Empire

There are four major groups that culminate Samsung Group and they are Hansol, CJ, and Shinsegae

group. Cheil Jedang, known as CJ, is a Korean conglomerate that diversified from its mother company,

Samsung. It is owned and operated by Lee Jae-hyun, the grandson of Lee. It also opened a chain of

multiplex movie theaters under the name of CGV. The Shinsegae Group is mainly known for its

department stores and is managed by Lee's youngest daughter, Lee Myung-hee. As of today, Samsung

Group has 64 subsidiaries and employs roughly 30,000 employees and combines for revenue of

KRW200 trillion (US$172.3 billion), occupying approximately one-fifth of Korea's gross domestic

product (GDP).

AN JOSE (California), Aug 25 —  A US jury yesterday handed Apple Inc. a sweeping victory in its

legal war with Samsung, ruling that the Korean company had copied critical features of the hugely

popular iPhone and iPad and awarding the US company US$1.051 billion (RM3.258 billion) in

damages.

The verdict — which came much sooner than expected — could lead to an outright ban on sales of

key Samsung products and will likely solidify Apple's dominance of the exploding mobile computing

market.

A number of companies that sell smartphones based on Google's Android operating system may

now face further legal challenges from Apple, a company that is already among the largest and most

profitable in business history.

Shares in Apple, which just this week became the biggest company by market value in history,

climbed almost 2 per cent to a record high of US$675 in after-hours trade.

Brian Love, a Santa Clara law school professor, described it as a crushing victory for Apple: "This is

the best-case scenario Apple could have hoped for."

The jury deliberated for less than three days before delivering the verdict on seven Apple patent

claims and five Samsung patent claims — suggesting that the nine-person panel had little difficulty in

concluding that Samsung had copied the iPhone and the iPad.

Billions of dollars in future sales hang in the balance.

Apple's charges that Samsung copied its designs and features are widely viewed as an attack on

Google Inc and its Android software, which drives Samsung's devices and has become the most-

used mobile software.

Apple and Samsung, two companies that sell more than half the world's smartphones and tablets,

have locked legal horns in several countries this year.

Earlier on Friday, a South Korean court found that both companies shared blame, ordering Samsung

to stop selling 10 products including its Galaxy S II phone and banning Apple from selling four

different products, including its iPhone 4.

But the trial on Apple's home turf — the world's largest and most influential technology market — is

considered the most important.

The fight began last year when Apple sued Samsung in multiple countries, accusing the South

Korean company of slavishly copying the iPhone and iPad. Samsung countersued. Apple had

sought more than US$2.5 billion in damages from Samsung, which has disputed that figure.

The companies are rivals, but also have a US$5 billion-plus supply relationship. Apple is Samsung's

biggest customer for microprocessors and other parts central to Apple's devices.

A near clean sweep?

The US jury spent most of August in a packed federal courtroom in San Jose — just miles from

Apple's headquarters in Cupertino — listening to testimony, examining evidence and watching

lawyers from both sides joust about seven Apple patents, five Samsung patents, and damage

claims.

Jurors received 100 pages of legal instructions from US District Judge Lucy Koh on Aug. 21 prior to

hearing the closing arguments from attorneys.

Lawyers from both tech giants used their 25 hours each of trial time to present internal emails, draw

testimony from designers and experts, and put on product demonstrations and mockups to convince

the jury.

At times, their questions drew testimony that offered glimpses behind the corporate facade, such as

the margins on the iPhone and Samsung's sales figures in the United States.

From the beginning, Apple's tactic was to present what it thought was chronological evidence of

Samsung copying its phone.

Juxtaposing pictures of phones from both companies and internal Samsung emails that specifically

analysed the features of the iPhone, Apple's attorneys accused Samsung of taking shortcuts after

realizing it could not keep up.

Samsung's attorneys, on the other hand, maintained Apple had no sole right to geometric designs

such as rectangles with rounded corners. They called Apple's damage claim "ridiculous" and urged

the jury to consider that a verdict in favor of Apple could stifle competition and reduce choices for

consumers.

The California trial has produced its share of drama and heated moments. Lawyers routinely

bickered over legal matters in the jury's absence, filed rafts of paperwork to thwart each other's

courtroom strategy, and sometimes even resorted to public relations tactics to make their views

known. — Reuters

Well, at least one fact is right: Tim Cook is chief executive of Apple.

On to the debunking.

1) Samsung's fine ($1.049bn) isn't yet payable; the judge hasn't ruled. All we have is the jury's verdict. The judge's decision, which could include a tripling of the fine, is due on 20 September (or possibly 6 December now; it's unclear). Until then, Samsung only has to pay its lawyers. That should be less than $1bn.

2) If Samsung tried to pay the fine in five-cent coins, Apple could legitimately tell the trucks to turn around and head back to Samsung (if the trucks weren't imaginary in the first place). Here's the relevant phrase from the US Treasury web page:

Q: I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?A: The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

So basically it would be Apple's choice whether it accepted the payment. (In the UK, the rules are stricter: "legal tender" - meaning payment for a court-ordered debt - mean, says the Royal Mint, that 5ps are only legal tender for amounts up to £5, for example. It's only when you get to £1 that you can pay debts up to "any amount".)3) Some more fact-checkiing from Ken Tindell via Twitter: "A nickel weighs 5g. It would take 2,755 18-wheeler trucks (max legal tare 80,000 lbs) to carry the money."4) Consider how much a billion dollars in nickels would weigh: you need 20bn of them, and at 5g each that's 0.005 kg x 20,000,000,000 = 100,000,000 kg = 100,000 tonnes.

5) There probably aren't that many nickels in circulation anyway. The New York Times noted in 2006 that there were about 20bn nickels in circulation at the time; rising metal prices were encouraging people to melt them for the copper and zinc. Another dose of reason.6) The amount of copper involved (95% of each nickel) is truly humungous because a billion is a very big number. 100,000 tonnes of copper (let's assume that's what it is for now) would, at a density of 8,940 kg/cubic metre (that's 8.94 tonnes/cubic metre), occupy just over 11,185 cubic metres. As an Olympic swimming pool has a capacity of 2,500 cubic metres (aka "one olymp"), that would be the same as four and a half Olympic swimming pools filled entirely with copper. Imagine that if you can.

The story appears to have originated on "humour" site 9gag, which Mobile Entertainment describes succinctly as "a place normally reserved for z-list memes and screenshots of Facebook statuses." Yup, this one fits that.The story actually originated on El Deforma, described (by many) as "an Onion-like Mexican website" - that is, specialising in fake news. Here's the original; I'm grateful to Maria Figueroa, who first pointed this out to me.She also pointed out that the site has a "tip of the day", which on Wednesday had the advice: "Si vas a plagiar noticias, no uses un sitio de noticias falsas como fuente." Or In English: "If you're going to steal news, make sure not to use a fake news site as a source."

When Steve Jobs was alive, it was his job to plug the latest Apple product. Few can deny his

theatrics helped boost iPhone sales.

For Samsung Electronics, it is Shin Jong-kyun, mobile chief of the Korean electronics giant.

Last week, Shin unveiled the Galaxy S4 mobile phone in Radio City Music Hall, New York.

The S4 unveiling was Samsung’s decision to go after Apple in its home territory of the United States,

the biggest smartphone market in the world.

Shin did his job with a high level of confidence. He didn’t read from a prepared text, and spoke

openly to the audience, conveying his feelings to them.

''Samsung executives were shy about plugging products. But it is transitioning to a marketing-driven

company with top-rated products,’’ said an unnamed official by telephone. “It is trickling down

through the organization and Shin is at the forefront of this latest trend.”

The official said Shin understands about appealing presentations, adding that he usually spends

long periods of time preparing his speeches for key events.

“Shin is such an enthusiastic person. At first, he used to be tense ahead of presentations. Now he

has overcome this. His presentation skills have been acquired through endless practice and

lessons,” an executive told The Korea Times.

Samsung held a theatrical launch this time, a wholly new concept never used by the company

before.

Also it strategically picks venues in different countries holding events that highlight key features of its

products, compared to Apple’s announcements near its headquarters in California.

''Samsung has taken technology and innovation forward to help us get close to what matters in life,

to help us live a richer, simpler and more full life,’’ said Shin during the S4 launch event.

According to shin, the Galaxy S4 isn’t just a phone but the right communications tool that blurs

technology and humanity. He said Samsung is becoming an inspirational brand.

There had been doubt that Samsung’s communication skills with the international community lacked

clarity and failed to spur feelings as previous launch events were just focused on an announcement

about the device.

But Samsung isn’t the firm it used to be. As the world’s top handset supplier, its representatives'

presentation skills are getting much better. Shin took gradual steps to explain the key features of the

S4 and didn’t spend much time on the device’s hardware specifications.