Samsung Electronics is reportedly looking to slash around one-in-three jobs in its IT and mobile division, following a disastrous 59.65% collapse in its third-quarter profits.
According to the Korea Times, around 6700 jobs out of 28,000 are set to go, with many long-serving executives at the division set to lose their jobs. Some employees will be moved to other divisions of the company based on performance reviews.
In turn, the IM division is made up of the company’s mobile business, network business and its content and platform business, known as Mobile Solution Center (MSC), with the latter set to bear the brunt of the cuts.
The changes won’t be limited to the company’s headquarters in South Korea, with the company’s North America, China and Europe offices also affected.
Meanwhile, there’s bad news for the conglomerate on another front, with Reuters reporting Samsung Group has dropped plans to merge construction firm Samsung Engineering with shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries, due to shareholder opposition.
The deal was announced in early September as part of a complicated succession plan that swung into action after the company’s 72-year-old chairman, Kun-hee Lee, suffered a heart attack in May.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
