Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, head of S.Korea's biggest conglomerate, dies at 78 (updated)

Samsung E&A Co

25/10/2020 02:38

(Adds quotes, background, bylines)
    By Hyunjoo Jin and Cynthia Kim
    SEOUL, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Lee Kun-hee, the charismatic
leader of Samsung Group, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate,
died on Sunday, the company said, six years he was hospitalised
for a heart attack.
    Lee, who was 78, helped grow his father Lee Byung-chull's
noodle trading business into a sprawling powerhouse with assets
worth some $375 billion, with dozens of affiliates stretching
from electronics and insurance to shipbuilding and construction.
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    "Lee is such a symbolic figure in South Korea's spectacular
rise and how South Korea embraced globalisation, that his death
will be remembered by so many Koreans," said Chung Sun Sup,
chief executive officer of corporate researcher firm
Chaebul.com.    
    He is the latest second-generation leader of a South Korean
family-controlled conglomerate to die, leaving potentially
thorny succession issues for the third generation.
    Lee’s son Jay Y. Lee has been embroiled in legal troubles
linked to a merger of two Samsung affiliates that helped Lee
assume greater control of the group’s flagship Samsung
Electronics.
    The younger Lee served jail time in his role in a bribery
scandal that triggered the impeachment of then-President Park
Geun-hye. He is facing a retrial over the case, and a separate
trial on charges of accounting fraud and stock price
manipulation kicked off this week.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2HD0DQ
    The death of Lee, South Korea's richest with a net worth of
$20.9 billion according to Forbes, is set to prompt investor
interest in a potential restructuring of the group involving his
stakes in key Samsung companies such as Samsung Life  032830.KS 
and Samsung Electronics.
    Samsung Life is the biggest shareholder of the group's crown
jewel Samsung Electronics, and Lee owns 20.76% of the insurance
firm.        
    Lee died with his family by his side, including Jay Y. Lee,
the Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  vice chairman, the
conglomerate said. 
    "Chairman Lee was a true visionary who transformed Samsung
into the world-leading innovator and industrial powerhouse from
a local business. His 1993 declaration of 'New Management' was
the motivating driver of the company’s vision to deliver the
best technology to help advance global society," Samsung said in
a statement. 
    During his lifetime, Samsung Electronics developed from a
second-tier TV maker to the world's biggest technology firm by
revenue - seeing off Japanese brands Sony, Sharp Corp  6753.T 
and Panasonic Corp  6752.T  in chips, TVs and displays; ending
Nokia Oyj's  NOK1V.HE  handset supremacy and beating Apple Inc
 AAPL.O  in smartphones.
    "His legacy will be everlasting," Samsung said.
    Chung at Chaebul.com said, "Immediate attention will be
given to the roughly 5% stake Lee has in Samsung Electronics,"
and how this will be distributed to his family.
    

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 (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Cynthia Kim in Seoul; Additional
reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by William Mallard)
 ((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters
Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))