IBM lets go of Korea chief - The Korea Times

By Kim Yoo-chul

International Business Machines (IBM) released the head of its Korean subsidiary, officials said, Tuesday.

"IBM's headquarters decided not to extend its contract with IBM Korea Chairwoman Shirley Yu-Tsui. She used the company intranet to notify the decision to employees," an IBM official said, adding the decision was made last week.

"Yu-Tsui was said to be fired for failing to regain the trust of her employer after the KB incident," he said.

Yu-Tsui, who became the company's Korea chief in 2013, was a key figure in the legal dispute with KB Kookmin Bank over the extension of its contract with the bank to use its mainframe systems.

Meanwhile, Yu-Tsui has been named as the chief executive of Visa China. Visa Korea declined to comment about the issue.

Under Yu-Tsui's leadership, IBM Korea performance has suffered.

Net profit was 47.8 billion won in 2014, down from 115 billion won the previous year, according to data from financial regulators. Such dismal performance pushed IBM Korea to cut the number of its employees.

IBM Korea currently has about 2,000 employees, down from around 2,500 in 2012. Meanwhile it doubled its dividends ratio to its headquarters last year from a year ago.

IBM Korea transferred 117 billion won to its headquarters last year, sending 132 billion won in 2013.

As IBM's mainframe charges more, leading local banks were in talks with other companies to cut their reliance on IBM.

Also, government agencies are considering shifting to a UNIX-based IT system, which will further pressurize IBM Korea as its bread-and-butter business is selling mainframe systems to larger companies such as banks and state-owned firms.

Officials say further restructuring of its workforce will come under a new chairperson.

IBM Korea is scaling down its hardware business and is instigating a voluntary retirement program. The main targets are engineers for maintenance services and seasoned technicians in hardware solutions.

Kim Won-jong, currently a senior vice president, is expected to take the top seat.