The untouchable Ex-Samsung Group head Lee Kun-hee returns to the management of Samsung as chairman of Samsung Electronics, rather than the entire company, which was agreed upon at a meeting for top executives of the company yesterday. In which they agreed upon to ask Lee Kun-hee to return to the helm of management for the company because of fears surrounding S. Korea's biggest conglomerate.
Rewind to the spring of 2008, Lee Kun-hee stepped down from the chairmanship after being convicted of orchestrating shady transactions between his family and company affiliates. Therefore, this move looked as an attempt to illegally transfer his wealth to his son. Lee Kun-hee was convicted of tax evasion and only to be pardoned twice, by S. Korean presidents with all his jail time deferred.
Fast forward to the beginning of this year or late 2009, his last pardon was issued so that he could help S. Korea win a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. This is due to the fact that President Lee Myung-bak made a special pardoned for the tycoon in December. In doing so Lee Myung-bak hoped that the tycoon who is a member of the International Olympic Committee would do his part to help support a bid by the city of PyeongChang.
Lee Kun-hee expressed deep concerns about the company's future by warning the global economy by stating, "Now is a real crisis. Global companies are collapsing. In the next decade, most of Samsung's main businesses and products will be gone." Despite this fear, analysts are predicting the most profitable year ever for Samsung Electronics.
