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Korean technology giant LG announced that it has replaced Nam Yong, CEO of mobile operations, with Koo Bon-joon frm the firm’s trading operations.
Following a record $103 million loss in the firm’s mobile handset business in the second quarter, Nam Yong had offered to resign from the helm and take responsibility for poor management, LG said.
While it’s unusual to replace a CEO before the end of the year, LG wasted no time installing the new boss saying: "We made the decision to give an incoming chief executive enough time to prepare for next year."
The mobile business isn’t the only struggling area for the Korean electronics giant with the Seoul-based firm’s home electronics and entertainment division seeing profits plung over 80 per cent.
LG is controlled by the founding Koo family and teleporting in Koo Bon Joon, younger provider of LG chairman Koo Bon Moo, will be seen as a sign of how seriously the company is taking the struggling handset business. The stock market also responded well to the change of helm with LG shares up nearly five per cent.
The change of guard follows the a similar move by Nokia in hiring ex-Microsoft Stephen Elop as company CEO and the resignation of Nokia smartphone boss Anssi Vanjoki. Where Nokia reached outside the existing Finish management to inject some new blood into the role, LG has turned to old blood, tasking one of the dynasty’s sons to turn things.
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