By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Top executives of Samsung Group have rushed to call off overseas business trips owing to the latest corruption scandal, raising concerns about a possible ``vacuum’’ in the group’s global business.
According to insiders, the group’s Chief Customer Officer Lee Jae-yong has been forced to cancel a meeting with Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which will open in Las Vegas Jan. 7-10 next year.
Moreover, Lee, Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s only son, also plans to skip the 3GSM World Congress, which will kick off in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2008.
``We had high expectations for the meeting with Steve Jobs because Samsung has just begun selling printers, a key driver for the group’s future, via Apple outlets in the U.S.,’’ a high-ranking official from Samsung Electronics said, Friday.
Another Samsung official said the group’s head has decided to stay at home unlike in the past couple of years when he met with key business figures and scholars and even inspected Samsung Electronics’ U.S. factories in New York and Austin, Texas.
``What matters most is the possibility of the chairman’s absence at the upcoming round of discussions of the International Olympic Committee in Beijing, denting his earlier plan to maximize the effect of the group’s sponsorship. Samsung is the official partner of Beijing Olympics,’’ an unnamed group official said.
Samsung Group reaped 152 trillion won in sales last year. Samsung Electronics, the group’s electronics giant, accounted for almost 40 percent of the total at 58.97 trillion won, while sales from abroad took up about 87 percent.
The news came after 40 investigators raided the conglomerate’s key financial unit as part of an probe into alleged bribery and bookkeeping fraud, Friday.
On Tuesday, prosecutors barred reportedly 14 Samsung executives including Lee Kun-hee and Jae-yong from leaving the country after President Roh Moo-hyun passed a National Assembly bill to launch an independent investigation of the scandal. The investigation will start on Jan. 6
Separately, Samsung Electronics CEO Yun Jong-yong expressed deep concern over the ongoing probe triggered by the group’s former legal affairs chief Kim Yong-chul as the investigation hampers the unit in finalizing detailed business plans for next year.
``We cannot finalize detailed business plans and even a reshuffle in key managerial posts has been postponed,’’ Yun told reporters.
``Investors are asking whether Samsung Electronics will operate businesses as planned and I think the investigation will continue through the end of the first half,’’ Yun said, adding that the company is in an emergency situation.