Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun Hee is in stable condition after surgery following a heart attack.
He was operated on yesterday at Samsung Medical Center after being resuscitated and stabilised the previous night at Soonchunhyang University Hospital following an acute myocardial infarction, according to spokeswoman Rhee So Eui.
Lee (72), who had lung cancer in 2000 and was in hospital in August for a cold, was treated after he experienced breathing difficulty on Saturday.
Since taking over the South Korean-based business in 1987, Lee helped build it into Asia’s biggest technology company and the world’s largest maker of smartphones, televisions and memory chips. In 2012, he appointed his son Lee Jae Yong as vice-chairman, and his daughter Lee Boo Jin as president of affiliate Hotel Shilla.
Naming his son as vice-chairman “was a clear step” in terms of succession, Heo Pil Seok, chief executive at Midas International Asset Management in Seoul, said yesterday.
Samsung Electronics shares have surged about 137-fold since Lee replaced the group's founder, his father Lee Byung Chull, as chairman. The patriarch chose his third son in 1971 ahead of two older brothers because they weren't interested in the business, according to The Lee Kun Hee Story, a biography published in 2010.
– (Bloomberg)
