South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. saw its share of the NAND flash market rise in the fourth quarter of 2014 from three months earlier, narrowing its gap with industry leader Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Sunday.SK hynix saw its market share reach 11.4 percent in the October-December period, up 1.1 percentage points from the 10.3 percent posted a quarter earlier, the data by market tracker TrendForce showed. In contrast, Samsung saw its shares fall 1.8 percentage points over the

Lee Kun-hee, the de-facto head of South Korea's top family-controlled conglomerate Samsung Group, earned the most amount of dividends among local businessmen last year, data showed Sunday, helped by the government's pressure on listed firms to expand returns to shareholders.Lee, who has been hospitalized since May after suffering a heart attack, earned 178.8 billion won ($164 million) in 2014, up 63 percent from a year earlier, the data by market researcher Chaebul.com showed.The jump came as th

South Korea's Samsung Group was named as the third-most reputable firm in the United States, a report showed Sunday, on the back of its strong products and services appealing to American consumers.Being the only foreign company to be included in the top-10 list, only two firms, grocery-chain operator Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc., outperformed Samsung in terms of corporate reputation, the report by U.S.-based market researcher Harris Poll showed.Apple Inc., which

The profit portion of South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. among its listed group affiliates declined last year from a year earlier as the smartphone maker reported the weakest earnings in three years, data showed Thursday.   The tech firm -- the flagship unit of the country's top conglomerate, Samsung Group -- posted 25 trillion won ($22.9 billion) in operating profit for the January-December period of 2014, accounting for 80.9 percent of the combined operating income from 18 listed

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's leading home appliance and smartphone maker, said Thursday its net loss widened by more than threefold in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a year earlier as it suspended production of plasma display panel (PDP) TVs due to lack of demand.Net loss came to 205.7 billion won (US$189.9 million) in the October-December period, compared with a loss of 63.5 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The figure was in line with the market con

SK Telecom Co., the country's top mobile operator, said Thursday its fourth-quarter earnings soared on an increased number of subscribers to its faster mobile Internet connection and a rise in sales from its business solution service.Net profit came to 503.3 billion won (US$465 million) in the October-December period, up 71.4 percent from the 293.6 billion won tallied a year earlier, SK Telecom said in a regulatory filing. The figure, however, marks a 5.2 percent drop from the previous quarter.R

Samsung Electronics Co. set out to reclaim its edge in the handset business that on Thursday revealed its weakest annual earnings in three years for the world's top smartphone maker, as competition is expected to get fiercer with global rivals in both the high- and low-end markets.The tech giant booked a net profit of 23.4 trillion won ($21.6 billion) in 2014, down 23.2 percent from 30.5 trillion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.The operating profit fell 32 percent

Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, on Thursday released weaker than expected fourth-quarter earnings, sending its stock price to a one-week low.Net income came to 134.5 billion won (US$124.2 million) in the October-December period, more than doubling from 54.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. But the fourth-quarter reading was well below the median estimate of 163.2 billion won suggested by South Korea's nine brokerage houses, according t

Leading South Korean companies are likely to hire fewer new employees in 2015 than last year as there is no clear sign of an economic recovery, a poll showed Tuesday.The survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), which canvassed the country's top 500 companies by sales, found 180 of them plan to hire 22,844 new workers in 2015, down 2.3 percent from 23,385 last year. Of those polled, 305 responded.Among the respondents, 125 said they have not yet come up with a hiring plan as t

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to unveil a near 40-percent jump in cash dividends this week, industry sources said Sunday, following such decisions by Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp.Samsung had paid out a total of 2.16 trillion won ($1.99 billion) in dividends to its shareholders for 2013, or 14,300 won per share, according to the sources.They said that the company will likely give a 40 percent increase in cash dividends for 2014, citing Samsung's earlier anno

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's second-biggest shipyard, has signed deals worth a combined $800 million to build four liquefied natural gas carriers, the shipbuilder said Thursday.Under the deals signed Wednesday with Korea Line Corp. and Hyundai LNG Shipping Co., the shipbuilder will deliver the LNG carriers by May 2017, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The latest orders are the first for Daewoo Shipbuilding in 2015.The state-run Korea Gas Corp. had placed or

KT&G Corp., South Korea's state-run tobacco producer, said Thursday its net profit jumped 45.5 percent in 2014 from a year earlier, driven by an increase in domesticsales ahead of a sharp price hike.Net income came to 813.8 billion won ($751.9 million) last year, compared with 559.3 billion won in 2013, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit went up 15.6 percent on-year to 1.17 trillion won last year, and sales gained 7.6 percent to 4.11 trillion won, it said.The numbers refle

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, LG Electronics Inc., said Thursday that it will roll out its latest version of its curved-smartphone lineup on its home turf later this month and gradually expand its sales to overseas markets.The G Flex 2, with a Full HD 5.5-inch display, will become LG's second smartphone that boasts a display curving inward from top to bottom and slightly from right to left but will be slightly smaller than its 6-inch predecessor, the company said.The latest model was showcased

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, LG Electronics Inc., is estimated to have posted a 25 percent gain in its smartphone sales last year from a year earlier, industry sources said Thursday, taking a step closer to claiming the third spot in the global market.The combined smartphone shipment of LG Electronics is estimated at 59.6 million units for 2014, up from the 47.6 million units posted a year earlier, the sources said. Industry watchers earlier expected its sales would hover around 60 million un