There are growing signs that Samsung is finally poised to make meaningful inroads in 5G, boosted by the confluence of rollouts across the world and intensifying pressure from governments of U.S. allies to block Huawei, the sector’s biggest player, from their networks.
In Wednesday’s news release, Samsung did not mention how Lee’s wife and children would split his assets between them, and there’s speculation that they haven’t yet reached a final agreement.
Most market analysts believe that Lee’s shares will be distributed in a way that would strengthen the leadership of his only son and corporate heir, Lee Jae-yong, who is currently serving a prison term for bribery and other crimes but who remains the de facto chief of Samsung Electronics. The elder Lee’s other children are Lee Boo-jin, CEO of Samsung’s Shilla luxury hotel chain, and Lee Seo-hyun, who heads the Samsung Welfare Foundation.
Samsung’s founding family says it will donate tens of thousands of rare artworks, including Picassos and Dalis, and give hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research to help them pay a massive inheritance tax following last year’s death of chairman Lee Kun-Hee.
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Group announced Wednesday that the heirs of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee will pay over 12 trillion won ($10.8 billion) in inheritance tax over the next five years, but did not detail the allocation of his shares in the group affiliates ― including the crown jewel, Samsung Electronics ― to his children.
Given the shares allocation could directly affect the conglomerate s organizational structure, the issue has been of primary concern, and questions are being asked as to why Samsung deferred an announcement on how the late chairman s shareholdings will be divided.
Samsung Group has retained a web-like governance structure linking Samsung C&T, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Electronics. The late chairman owned 4.18 percent of the shares of Samsung Electronics, 20.76 percent of Samsung Life Insurance, 2.88 percent of Samsung C&T and 0.01 percent of Samsung SDS.
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