[THE INVESTOR] Mobile messenger operator Kakao is reportedly planning to split its services business into two divisions -- social network and portal.The social network division will be in charge of running its flagship social networking services including KakaoTalk and KakaoStory while the portal business will be operating news platform Daum News and content platform KakaoTalk Channel among others.KakaoTalk ChannelLim Sung-young, director of the firm’s media content team, will head the portal bu

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has been named the most respected brand in Asia for five consecutive years, a recent survey found June 17. Campaign Asia-Pacific and Nielsen recently conducted the Asia Top 1000 Brand survey on consumers in 13 Asian countries. The Korean tech giant has topped the survey since 2012. Its archrival Apple was ranked second, followed by Sony, Nestle, Panasonic, Nike, LG, Canon, Chanel and Adidas. (theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)

[THE INVESTOR] The Korean prosecution has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court in a so-called washing machine row involving Jo Sung-jin, the chief executive of LG Electronics' home appliances and air solutions, after the lower courts ruled in favor of the LG CEO earlier this month.The prosecutors’ office appealed to the highest court on June 15 after the two lower courts acquitted CEO Jo and two of his aides on charges of damaging Samsung Electronics' washing machines at retail shops during th

[THE INVESTOR] A group of KT’s shareholders on June 16 filed a lawsuit against the telecommunications company for allegedly infringing on their right to speak at the shareholders meeting in March.The minority shareholders claimed in their complaint that the firm intentionally blocked them from entering the venue of the meeting for three hours in order to fill the front row seats with employee shareholders who sided with the firm. “KT deliberately gave only those employee stockholders in the fron

[THE INVESTOR] The chief of a global industry group that sets ultrahigh-definition technology standards said UHD technology would soon replace high-definition technology as the new norm in the industry. Speaking with Korean reporters in Seoul on Wednesday, UHD Alliance president Hanno Basse said members of the alliance would continue to make concerted efforts to improve the viewing experience of TVs. Samsung Electronics’ SUHD TVs.“It will not take long for UHD TVs to replace HD TVs, probably 5 y

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has been actively seeking merger and acquisition deals of start-ups in the past couple of years.The list of its takeovers showed that the world’s largest electronics manufacturer has been focused on making a move into the software and cloud sectors and beefing up its presence in the business-to-business segment. Since 2014, the Korean tech giant acquired nine companies, including video app services developer firm SELBY in May 2014, SmartThings in Aug. 2014, pri

[THE INVESTOR] LG Display has started executing its 1 trillion won (US$850 million) investment into the Korean plants to beef up production of organic light-emitting diode panels both for TVs and smartphones. The display-making unit of LG Group is also ordering new equipment from local suppliers, the Electronic Times reported on June 17. According to the report, the company is replacing production line for liquid-crystal displays at its P8 plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, with those for larger

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics dismissed Thursday a news report the Korean tech giant is preparing to reduce about 1,000 employees at its struggling mobile business division. “We are relocating some employees to other business divisions as disclosed in May, but we are not considering cutting any jobs,” an LG Electronics spokesperson told The Investor, a new online business news site recently launched by The Korea Herald. “Some hundreds of workers have been relocated on a regular basis,” he added,

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics on June 16 dismissed a news report that the Korean tech giant is preparing to reduce about 1,000 employees at its struggling mobile business division. “We are relocating some employees to other business divisions as disclosed in May, but we are not considering any job cuts,” an LG Electronics spokesperson told The Investor, a brand new online business news site recently launched by The Korea Herald. “Some hundreds of workers have been relocated on a regular basis,”

Bagel Labs to release smart tape measure through Kickstarter on June 29

[THE INVESTOR] SK Planet has been named the Telecom eCommerce Service Provider of the Year for its mobile marketing brand Syrup, the company said Thursday.The award was presented to the firm at the 2016 Asia Pacific ICT Awards in Singapore on Wednesday. It was hosted by the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan and this was the 13th year of the awards.　Frost & Sullivan said that SK Planet was chosen for the award because Syrup had increased value to customers through omni-channel competitiveness, and

We now expect Samsung Electronics (SEC) to post operating profit of KRW7.65tn (+15% QoQ) for 2Q16, driven mainly by strong sales of Galaxy S7 smartphones. SEC has recently been establishing clear leadership over rivals in technological advancement, backed by bold, preemptive investments. We thus maintain our BUY rating for SEC and raise our target price to KRW1,650,000.2Q16 previewFor 2Q16, we expect SEC to report sales of KRW50.03tn (+0.5% QoQ), operating profit of KRW7.65tn (+15% QoQ), and net

[THE INVESTOR] Netflix, the US-based streaming giant, is hiring Korean staff at its local unit to strengthen its presence in the market. The company recently posted four job openings on its own website and LinkedIn, including senior software engineer, partner marketing manager, integrated producer and business development director.The world’s largest video-streaming service with more than 70 million subscribers launched its Korean service in January this year. The Korean launch came as part of t

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is making a big push in the US budget smartphone market with its planned launch of the $140 Galaxy On5. According to CNET, the phone will be sold by both T-Mobile and its prepaid brand, MetroPCS. It comes in at $140 outright, or for zero down payment and $5.83 a month for 24 months. Samsung Galaxy On5Key features include a 5-inch display, a 5-megapizel camera with an LED flash on the back, a 2-megapixel camera on the front and a 2,600mAh battery. Previously, th

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics said on June 16 it has acquired a US-based cloud service provider Joyent in its latest start-up shopping spree. With the acquisition, Samsung aims to strengthen its presence in the soaring cloud market, offering more advanced mobile services in the era of the Internet of Things technology. Detailed terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Screen capture of Joyent`s homepage“Samsung evaluated a wide range of potential companies in the public and private cloud infr