SEOUL – Samsung Electronics will move its chief executive, Choi Gee-sung, as head of global strategy of Samsung Group at a time when the company faces stiff competition from Apple for advance phone market supremacy.
Choi, 61, has worked at Samsung for over three decades and has served in key business areas of the group, from semiconductors and displays to consumer electronics and telecommunications. He took over as CEO in 2010.
The South Korean group named Kwon Oh-hyun as the new chief executive of Samsung Electronics. Kwon served until now as head of business of the group, which oversees the area of chips and screens.
Samsung said that it is does not anticipate any changes that could impact operations.
“There will be major changes in the overall strategy while Kwon continues to monitor the components business of the company, while telecommunications and consumer electronics are addressed separately by other executives,” said James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities KDB.
Samsung, which said earlier this month that sales of its Galaxy S smartphone had exceeded 50 million units, has moved swiftly to address the rapid growth of Apple in the mobile market and has moved ahead of Nokia and the manufacturer of the BlackBerry, Research In Motion.
Before the announcement, the technology company’s shares closed at 5.2%, on par with the general rise in the market that pushed up the benchmark KOSPI by 2.6%.
