Samsung Group

The Samsung Group is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It is the world's largest conglomerate by revenue with an annual revenue of US $173.4 billion in 2008 and is South Korea's largest chaebol. The meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung  is "tristar" or "three stars".

The Samsung Group is composed of numerous international affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand including Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second largest shipbuilder and Samsung C&T, a major global construction company.

Samsung has been the world's most popular consumer electronics brand since 2005 and is the best known South Korean brand in the world. Samsung Group accounts for more than 20% of South Korea's total exports and is the leader in many domestic industries, such as the financial, chemical, retail and entertainment industries. The company's strong influence in South Korea is visible throughout the nation, which has been referred to as the "Republic of Samsung".

Background
Currently helmed by Lee Soo-bin, once the CEO of Samsung Life Insurance, it has been run by generations of one of the world's wealthiest families, formerly by chairman Lee Kun-Hee, the third son of the founder, Lee Byung-Chull.

Many major South Korean corporations such as CJ Corporation, Hansol Group, Shinsegae Group and Joong-Ang Ilbo daily newspaper were previously part of the Samsung Group. Though they are still controlled by ex-Chairman Lee Kun-hee's relatives, they are no longer officially Samsung affiliates. Some leading companies in South Korea, notably MP3 player manufacturer iriver and search engine portal Naver, were established by ex-Samsung employees. A large number of South Korean firms, particularly those in the electronics industry, are dependent on Samsung for the supply of vital components or raw materials such as semiconductor chips or LCD panels. This has led to continued allegations of price fixing and monopolistic practices. Samsung Group also owns the Sungkyunkwan University, a major private university in South Korea.

Samsung Group accounts for more than 20% of South Korea's total exports[10] and in many domestic industries, Samsung Group is the sole monopoly dominating a single market, its revenue as large as some countries' total GDP. In 2006, Samsung Group would have been the 34th largest economy in the world if ranked, larger than that of Argentina.[12] The company has a powerful influence on the country's economic development, politics, media and culture, being a major driving force behind the Miracle on the Han River; many businesses today use its international success as a role model.

History
In 1938, Lee Byung-Chull founded Samsung, a small trading company with forty employees located in Daegu. The company prospered until the Communist invasion in 1950 when he was forced to leave Seoul and start over in Busan. During the war, Samsung's businesses flourished and its assets grew twenty-fold. In 1953, Lee started a sugar refinery—South Korea’s first manufacturing facility after the Korean War. The company diversified into many areas and Lee sought to establish Samsung as an industry leader in a wide range of enterprises.

Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the world in 1992, and is the world's second-largest chipmaker after Intel . From 1999 to 2002, Samsung conspired with Hynix Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory and Micron Technology to fix the prices of DRAM chips sold to American computer makers. In 2005 Samsung agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $300 million fine, the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in the US history.

In 1995, it built its first liquid-crystal display screen. Ten years later, Samsung grew to be the world's largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal display panels. Sony, which had not invested in large-size TFT-LCDs, contacted Samsung to cooperate. In 2006, S-LCD was established as a joint venture between Samsung and Sony in order to provide a stable supply of LCD panels for both manufacturers. S-LCD is owned by Samsung and Sony 51% to 49% respectively and operates its factories and facilities in Tangjung, South Korea.

Samsung Electronics, which saw record profits and revenue in 2004 and 2005, overtook Sony as one of the world's most popular consumer electronics brands, and is now ranked #19 in the world overall. Behind, Nokia, Samsung is the world's second largest by volume producer of cell phones with a leading market share in the North America and Western Europe.

Samsung sponsor of the Olympics
Samsung first became a full sponsor of the Olympic Games during the Nagano Olympic Winter Games in 1998. According to the new contract, Samsung will officially sponsor the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement for the next eight years, a deal that covers the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, the London Olympic Games in 2012, the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016.

(Source:Wikipedia)

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