LG.Philips LCD Changes Name to LG Display
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
LG.Philips LCD (LPL), the world’s No. 2 LCD panel supplier, will change its name to LG Display.
``The new corporate name reflects the company’s business expansion and diversification, the change in corporate governance following the reduction of Philips’ equity stake,’’ Lee Bang-soo, vice president of the company said on Tuesday.
LPL said the name change will most likely be approved at the shareholders’ meeting scheduled for Feb. 29.
In October last year, LPL’s Dutch-based joint partner, Philips, lowered its stake in LPL to 19.9 percent from 32.9 percent as the consumer electronics giant has been shifting its business focus to healthcare.
LPL will appoint a new chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president representing LG Electronics at the upcoming meeting. Its current CFO Ron Wirahadiraksa who is sharing the president’s role with CEO Kwon Young-soo will leave the position.
Speculation has been rife that the new name will be LG LCD but the option has been discarded as the company is involved in producing next-generation OLED panels using the advanced active-matrix method.
LG Electronics and Philips Electronics set up LG.Philips LCD in 1999 and had the company go public in 2004.