Samsung Electronics names Kwon Oh-hyun as CEO

8 Jun 2012

The Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone

Samsung Electronics has named the head of the firm’s display and chip business Kwon Oh-hyun as a new chief executive officer, after his division pulled the company out of an industry slump.

“As before, vice-chairman Kwon will oversee the company’s component business but, as chief executive, he will also handle corporate-wide affairs,” Samsung said in a statement.

Kwon had been promoted to vice-chairman in December and he replaces Geesung Choi as CEO.

Geesung will remain vice-chairman and keep his seat on Samsung Electronics’ board of directors, the statement added.

The current chief executive, Choi Gee-sung, will become head of corporate strategy at the parent company Samsung Group.

The news comes shortly after iSuppli and Strategy Analytics reported that Samsung overtook Nokia as the leading vendor of mobile phones in the first quarter of 2012, and that prior to its release at the end of May in Ireland and Germany, pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone had reached 9m.

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com