Samsung CEO says company will pursue deals as it struggles for growth
The South Korean firm has been suffering from weak earnings and sagging share prices in recent quarters after falling behind rivals
Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it is looking at major deals to drive growth as it faced tough questions from shareholders after its failure to ride an artificial intelligence boom made it one of the worst-performing tech stocks last year.
The South Korean firm has been suffering from weak earnings and sagging share prices in recent quarters after falling behind rivals in advanced memory chips and contract chip manufacturing, which have enjoyed strong demand from AI projects.
Shareholders slammed management for poor stock performance and called for measures to revive stock prices at the meeting.
“First and foremost, I sincerely apologise for the recent stock performance not meeting your expectations. Over the past year, our company failed to adequately respond to the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market,” Samsung co-CEO Han Jong-hee said at the meeting.
Samsung, which has introduced a stock-based performance system to executives last year, is considering expanding the scheme to employees next year, as part of efforts to review its stock prices, Han said.
Samsung Electronics shares were trading up 2.6 per cent, compared with the benchmark KOSPI’s 1 per cent rise as of 9.16am (0116 GMT).
