Acting Chairman
Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, is officially expanding his management territory. He is moving fast but very silently to enhance his external activities and take care of the major issues of subsidiary companies by himself.
According to industry sources on July 7, the major issues of the main subsidiary companies of Samsung Electronics were directly reported to Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong by his specific order.
An executive in one of Samsung's subsidiaries said, “A report of overall management activities from each subsidiary company has been prepared as ordered by Vice Chairman Lee.”
A remarkable thing to notice is that not only Samsung Electronics-related subsidiary companies but also non-Samsung Electronics-related affiliates such as Samsung C&T, Samsung Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries had to report to the Vice Chairman as well. It is interpreted as Vice Chairman Lee taking care of the overall businesses of entire Samsung Group. The third generation corporate succession structure, an interesting issue for insiders and outsiders of the Samsung Group, is also not yet clear. People predict that Vice Chairman Lee will take over the electronics and finance related subsidiaries; that Lee Boo-jin, CEO of Hotel Shilla, will take over the hotel, construction, heavy industries and chemicals subsidiaries; and that Lee Seo-hyun, CEO of Cheil Worldwide, will take over fashion and media.
Vice Chairman Lee is expanding his external activities as well. He was focusing on major overseas counter-parties as Chief Operating Officer (COO) until 2012. However, Lee is recently spending more time to meet key persons in the government and industries.
Vice Chairman Lee is also on a business trip to the US this week. He plans to attend Sun Valley Media Conference, where the CEOs of global electronics, financing, and media companies get together.
An industry source said, “Vice President Lee is leading Samsung Group very well by checking the overall business of the Group by himself, even with the absence o Chairman Lee Kun-hee due to sickness.”