SEOUL: Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, who transformed the South Korean company right into a international tech titan, died at the age of 78 on Sunday, the business enterprise stated.
Under Lee's leadership, Samsung rose to emerge as the arena's biggest producer of smartphones and reminiscence chips, and the firm's usual turnover these days is equivalent to a 5th of South Korea's GDP.
Samsung's meteoric rise helped make Lee South Korea's richest and maximum effective industrialist.
"It is with extremely good disappointment that we announce the passing of Kun-hee Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics," the organization said in a statement.
"Chairman Lee passed away on October 25 together with his circle of relatives, such as Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, by means of his side.
"Chairman Lee turned into a real visionary who converted Samsung into the world-leading innovator and business powerhouse from a nearby enterprise," the company stated, adding: "His legacy can be eternal."
Samsung is via far the largest of the own family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate enterprise in South Korea.
They drove the kingdom's transformation from a war-ravaged damage to the sector's twelfth-largest financial system, however nowadays are accused of murky political ties and stifling opposition — with Lee himself two times convicted of criminal offenses, in a single case bribing a president.
Global strength
When Lee inherited the chairmanship of the Samsung institution in 1987 — based by his father as a fish and fruit exporter — it became already the us of a's biggest conglomerate, with operations ranging from patron electronics to construction.
But it was seen as a shoddy manufacturer of cheap, low-satisfactory merchandise.
"Let's trade the entirety except our wives and youngsters," Lee said in 1993.
The organisation accrued up and burnt all 150,000 mobile telephones it had in inventory, paving the manner for the rebirth of the quite a hit "Anycall" handset.
With Lee on the helm, Samsung became a global behemoth: by the time he suffered a coronary heart attack in 2014, it become the sector's biggest maker of smartphones and reminiscence chips, and a primary participant in semiconductors and LCDs.
Lee rarely spoke to the media, but was closely watched each time he broke his long silences, regularly with doom-weighted down New Year company addresses.
His son, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, has been on the helm of the business enterprise since the 2014 coronary heart attack.
'Hermit king'
Despite his titanic wealth and power, Lee seldom ventured out from the excessive walls of his private compound in significant Seoul to go to the corporation headquarters, earning him the nickname "hermit king".
Lee, the 1/3 son of Samsung institution founder Lee Byung-chull, had a gentle spot for puppies — evolved as a infant in Japan where he went to highschool from age eleven. He turned into also regarded for his love of films, horseriding and distinguished supercars.
He studied at Japan's prestigious Waseda University and earned an MBA at George Washington University inside the United States.
He have become vice president of the institution's production and trading arm on the age of 36, and have become group chairman nine years later, quickly after his father's loss of life.
Lee married Hong Ra-hee — whose father become a justice minister — with whom he had a son and three daughters.
Bribes, embezzlement, tax evasion
The worlds of politics and commercial enterprise had been intertwined in South Korea, and the connection became contemplated in Lee's career.
In 1996, he changed into convicted of bribing former president Roh Tae-woo to get favours for Samsung in business policy selections.
Lee became additionally observed guilty of embezzlement and tax evasion in a slush fund scandal in 2008, which saw him in brief step down from the organization management.
But suspended sentences supposed he by no means served time in prison and he acquired presidential pardons, happening to spearhead his united states's a hit efforts to at ease the 2018 Winter Olympics.
A few years later, he fought off a lawsuit from his older brother and sister claiming they were entitled to Samsung stocks worth billions of greenbacks.
He have been in hospital treatment after his coronary heart attack, but few information were ever discovered approximately his situation, leaving him shrouded in thriller even in his very last days.
Under Lee's leadership, Samsung rose to emerge as the arena's biggest producer of smartphones and reminiscence chips, and the firm's usual turnover these days is equivalent to a 5th of South Korea's GDP.
Samsung's meteoric rise helped make Lee South Korea's richest and maximum effective industrialist.
"It is with extremely good disappointment that we announce the passing of Kun-hee Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics," the organization said in a statement.
"Chairman Lee passed away on October 25 together with his circle of relatives, such as Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, by means of his side.
"Chairman Lee turned into a real visionary who converted Samsung into the world-leading innovator and business powerhouse from a nearby enterprise," the company stated, adding: "His legacy can be eternal."
Samsung is via far the largest of the own family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate enterprise in South Korea.
They drove the kingdom's transformation from a war-ravaged damage to the sector's twelfth-largest financial system, however nowadays are accused of murky political ties and stifling opposition — with Lee himself two times convicted of criminal offenses, in a single case bribing a president.
Global strength
When Lee inherited the chairmanship of the Samsung institution in 1987 — based by his father as a fish and fruit exporter — it became already the us of a's biggest conglomerate, with operations ranging from patron electronics to construction.
But it was seen as a shoddy manufacturer of cheap, low-satisfactory merchandise.
"Let's trade the entirety except our wives and youngsters," Lee said in 1993.
The organisation accrued up and burnt all 150,000 mobile telephones it had in inventory, paving the manner for the rebirth of the quite a hit "Anycall" handset.
With Lee on the helm, Samsung became a global behemoth: by the time he suffered a coronary heart attack in 2014, it become the sector's biggest maker of smartphones and reminiscence chips, and a primary participant in semiconductors and LCDs.
Lee rarely spoke to the media, but was closely watched each time he broke his long silences, regularly with doom-weighted down New Year company addresses.
His son, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, has been on the helm of the business enterprise since the 2014 coronary heart attack.
'Hermit king'
Despite his titanic wealth and power, Lee seldom ventured out from the excessive walls of his private compound in significant Seoul to go to the corporation headquarters, earning him the nickname "hermit king".
Lee, the 1/3 son of Samsung institution founder Lee Byung-chull, had a gentle spot for puppies — evolved as a infant in Japan where he went to highschool from age eleven. He turned into also regarded for his love of films, horseriding and distinguished supercars.
He studied at Japan's prestigious Waseda University and earned an MBA at George Washington University inside the United States.
He have become vice president of the institution's production and trading arm on the age of 36, and have become group chairman nine years later, quickly after his father's loss of life.
Lee married Hong Ra-hee — whose father become a justice minister — with whom he had a son and three daughters.
Bribes, embezzlement, tax evasion
The worlds of politics and commercial enterprise had been intertwined in South Korea, and the connection became contemplated in Lee's career.
In 1996, he changed into convicted of bribing former president Roh Tae-woo to get favours for Samsung in business policy selections.
Lee became additionally observed guilty of embezzlement and tax evasion in a slush fund scandal in 2008, which saw him in brief step down from the organization management.
But suspended sentences supposed he by no means served time in prison and he acquired presidential pardons, happening to spearhead his united states's a hit efforts to at ease the 2018 Winter Olympics.
A few years later, he fought off a lawsuit from his older brother and sister claiming they were entitled to Samsung stocks worth billions of greenbacks.
He have been in hospital treatment after his coronary heart attack, but few information were ever discovered approximately his situation, leaving him shrouded in thriller even in his very last days.
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