Samsung names three new CEOs

Samsung today announced three new CEOs. The company also posted record profits for this quarter. Kim Ki-nam will be the CEO of the components business. Kim Hyun-suk (HS Kim) will be CEO of consumer electronics. And Koh Dong-jin (DJ Koh) will be CEO of mobile and IT.

Both Shin Jong-kyun (JK Shin) and Yoon Boo-keun (BK Yoon) will resign. This follows the unexpected resignation of Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-Hyun. Kwon is the undisputed leader of Samsung and his surprise resignation announcement comes amidst him saying that there has to be a ‘new leadership and the company is facing an unprecedented crisis’.

Markets is expecting the new three CEOs to be elevated to the status of Kwon’s, but Samsung says that they will be putting them at the same level of management, for now.

Kim Ki-nam is currently the boss of Samsung’s profitable semiconductor business. He has run the memory division of the firm previously and was the CEO of Samsung Display for a period of time. HS Kim has been descripbed by Samsung as an expert in the display technology. DJ Koh previously headed the mobile R&D division from 2015.

The news comes as Samsung announced its highest ever quarterly profits. It made 14.53 trillion won (about $13 billion) in operating profit off 62.05 trillion won ($55.4 billion) in revenue between July and September, beating the record of 14.1 trillion won set last quarter. The semiconductor business was the biggest driver — Samsung says that the Galaxy Note 8 helped the mobile business post strong shipments, but profit actually declined quarter-on-quarter because sales of lower-end models were higher.

According to analytics firm – Counterpoint – Samsung still trails in the global premium mobile market share, having about a quarter of the pie. Apple has move than 50% of the premium market share, as at third quarter of this year.