One of Samsung's CEOs, Jong-hee Han, has died due to a heart attack.
One of Samsung's CEOs, Jong-hee Han, has died due to a heart attack, according to Reuters and CNBC. He was 63. Han joined the company in 1988 and became the head of product research and development for visual display in 2011. He then led Samsung's TV business before he was named as the head of Samsung DX, which is what the company calls its merged mobile and consumer electronics divisions, in 2021. In 2022, he officially became the company's Vice Chairman and CEO. Han had no experience in mobile before he started leading the company's DX group, but Samsung gave him credit for helping it get to the top of global TV sales for 15 years.
CNBC says Han was one of the executives who hosted Samsung's annual general shareholders meeting just a week ago and answered questions about the company's poor stock performance. During the meeting, Han apologized to the shareholders, telling them that Samsung "failed to adequately respond to the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market." He also told the shareholders that Samsung was having difficulties when it came to semiconductor-related mergers and acquisitions due to regulatory issues, but that the company was "determined to produce some tangible results this year."
Based on the notice Samsung published, Han's co-CEO Young-Hyun Jun is now the sole CEO of the company. Jun, who also heads Samsung's semiconductor business, was appointed as Han's co-CEO in November 2024. It's not clear whether Samsung is planning to appoint another CEO in the future.
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By rickdeckard 2025-03-2515:002 reply Just for clarification, Samsung has two CEO's:
The deceased Han Jong-hee was a Co-CEO and Vice-Chairman, just like Jun Young-hyun who now remains as the sole CEO.
This was not a planned transition or coincidence, Samsung usually had 3 parallel CEO's since 2013 and downsized to two CEO's in 2021, all of those being "Vice-Chairman".
On top there is still the Samsung Electronics Chairman, Lee Jae-yong...
By moandcompany 2025-03-2515:26 JH Han came from Samsung's Visual Display (tvs, smart tvs) business unit which is part of Samsungs larger consumer electronics business which includes things such as home appliances. Mobile electronics such as Galaxy brand smart phones are another business, and Han was promoted to lead the businesses spanning all of those groups, which was (re)named to called "Device Experience (DX)". Samsung's semiconductor fabrication and component businesses have normally had a separate "CEO" from the consumer electronics finished products businesses (aka. "SET")
I wonder if they had 3 CEOs because the name means 3 stars in korean
By moandcompany 2025-03-2515:213 reply The company name of "Samsung" originates from the founder's admiration of Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi, known as "keiretsu" and their place in its economy; he hoped that his company would also endure as a shining symbol in the sky, like stars. Mitsubishi means three stars in Japanese language.
Samsung the company started as something resembling a dry goods market.
I thought Mitsubishi was 三菱 for Three Diamonds? Seems to go better with their log.
Mitsuboshi, 三つ星, would I think be for three stars, particularly the stars of Orion's belt.
"According to Samsung's founder, the meaning of the Korean hanja Samsung (三星) is three stars."
https://news.samsung.com/global/20-things-you-didnt-know-abo...
By nine_k 2025-03-2517:36 菱 is "water chestnut", a nut that actually is spiky, the <> figures are a stylization of that.
菱形, that is, "water chestnut-shaped" is indeed used for what's called "diamond-shaped" in English, maybe hence the confusion.
By moandcompany 2025-03-2517:31 Technically correct is the best kind of correct. Symbolically, in this context, they were seen as diamonds in the sky, aka stars :)
By themaninthedark 2025-03-2517:191 reply Pendant correction: The bishi in Mitsubishi translates more closely to rhombus or diamond.
By m4rtink 2025-03-2517:43 I thought Mitsubishi means 3 diamonds ?
https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/en/about/history/logo/log...
Just a week or so ago, Samsung chairman Lee Jae-yong told everyone in Samsung that there's only a "do or die" attitude.
https://www.kedglobal.com/leadership-management/newsView/ked...
If it's a suicide you may be onto something. If died of natural causes though, it's a poor taste joke.
By anotherevan 2025-03-2521:48 Probably in poor taste either way.
> Based on the notice Samsung published, Han's co-CEO Young-Hyun Jun is now the sole CEO of the company. Jun, who also heads Samsung's semiconductor business, was appointed as Han's co-CEO in November 2024.
I guess he had been co-CEO since November. That’s about as smooth of a transition one could hope for? (As far as the company welfare goes.) My thoughts are with his family. An abrupt loss like this must be painful.
By douglee650 2025-03-2517:25 This is Engadget's error, but the name would be Y(o)ung Hyun-Jun, where Yung is the last name, and Hyun-Jun is his "first+middle" name
By umanwizard 2025-03-2514:031 reply [flagged]
By makeitdouble 2025-03-2514:231 reply Regardless of parent's bile, it's kinda hard to avoid Samsung products without living in a cabin in the woods.
Don't Apple phones use Samsung displays ? Doesn't the pixel phone use a Samsung processor ? Will you check if it's not Samsung RAM or SSD when buying a computer ?
It's just not a company that can be avoided that easily.
By hulitu 2025-03-2718:09 > Regardless of parent's bile, it's kinda hard to avoid Samsung products without living in a cabin in the woods
Not everybody is an Apple fan.
