Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s leading tech giant, saw its market capitalization fall below the 200 trillion won ($195.1 billion) mark for the first time in two years, data showed Wednesday, as its mainstay mobile unit continued to suffer amid the rise of Chinese rivals.
Samsung’s market cap came to 198.34 trillion won on Sept. 2, falling below the 200 trillion won mark for the first time since Sept. 7, 2012. While it managed to return to 200.5 trillion won on Thursday, it slipped back to 198.9 trillion won on Friday.
The South Korean stock market was closed from Monday through Wednesday for the Chuseok holiday, the major harvest festival. Shares of Samsung Electronics closed at 1,201,000 won on Friday, down 24.17 percent from a record high of 1,584,000 won posted on Jan. 3, 2013.
Due to the falling share prices, Samsung accounted for 16.22 percent of the combined market cap of shares listed on the main bourse, the lowest level since the 16.36 percent posted on Feb. 17, 2012.
The recent losses came as Samsung Electronics’ net income came to 6.25 trillion won in the April-June period, down 19.5 percent from the 7.77 trillion won a year earlier. (Yonhap)
