Renowned South Korean Businessman and Chairman of Samsung passed away on October 25, 2020. He was chairman of the Samsung Group from 1987–2008 and 2010–20 as well as chairman of its flagship company, Samsung Electronics from 2010–20. Besides, he was president of the Korean Amateur Wrestling Association and was involved with a professional baseball team and amateur athletics. Lee was the third son of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-Chull.
His Achievements
Samsung Revolution Lee Kun-hee the richest man of South Korea joined Samsung in 1968 and served under his father, who exercised absolute control over the conglomerate and decided against making two older sons his successors. Lee became chairman of Samsung after his father’s death in 1987, but left management to a corporate staff. In 1993, he, however, launched a dramatic revolution to make Samsung the largest Asian conglomerate outside Japan.
He pushed Samsung into many new activities, such as automobile manufacturing. He decided to make 20 per cent of Samsung’s products outside South Korea by the year 2000. As a result, he built an electronics manufacturing complex in Wynyard, England, and semiconductor plants in both Austin, Texas, and Suzhou, China.
He also acquired such companies as the US personal computer manufacturer, AST Research, Rollei Camera in Germany, and Lux, a Japanese manufacturer of audio products. Thus, Samsung Electronics became the world’s leading exporter of memory chips by 1996, with the entire group’s revenues totalling US $87 billion in 1995.
In the late 1990s, Lee guided Samsung safely through the Asian financial crisis, and at the start of the 21st century, it was one of the largest conglomerates in the world.
He was made the head of Samsung Electronics, the conglomerate’s largest division, in March 2010.