[Breaking] Samsung Electronics announces massive stock split plan, shares surge

Samsung Electronics has decided on a 50:1 stock split, expanding its issued shares from 128.4 million to 6.4 billion shares, according to a filing Wednesday.

The stock split will be up for a vote at the regular shareholders‘ meeting scheduled for Mar. 23. 

The 50:1 split means that a share worth 5,000 won, for example, would be split into fifty 100-won shares. This increases the number of shares while lowering stock prices to encourage more investors to buy shares in the company. 

“The Board believes the stock split announced today will make investing in Samsung Electronics more accessible and provide dividends to a wider range of investors from 2018,“ the company said through a release. 

After the announcement, Samsung Electronics share price surged more than 5 percent to 2.63 million won, as of 10 a.m.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)