Samsung Names Marketing Chief Lee Won-jin to Lead TV Business in Rare Midyear Shake-Up

Samsung Electronics has replaced the head of its TV business in an unusual leadership change outside its typical year-end executive reshuffle. The move comes as global TV demand remains sluggish and profitability continues to weaken, prompting Samsung to push its TV strategy beyond hardware toward content and services.
 
Samsung said on 4일 that Lee Won-jin, president and head of global marketing for its Device eXperience (DX) division, was appointed president and head of the DX division’s Visual Display (VD) Business, while also leading the service business team. Yong Seok-woo, who had led the VD Business, will move to a role as an adviser to the head of the DX division.
 
The reshuffle reflects Samsung’s assessment that the TV business faces more than a temporary earnings slump and that hardware-led growth has reached its limits. Samsung estimated the TV business posted an operating loss in the 600 billion won range in the fourth quarter of last year, then narrowly returned to a 200 billion won profit in the first quarter. Samsung has held the No. 1 spot in the global TV market since 2006, but the company has struggled to translate that lead into strong profits.
 
Samsung has cited intense price competition from Chinese manufacturers as a key factor squeezing margins. Companies such as Hisense and TCL, backed by a large domestic market and government support, have dominated the liquid-crystal display (LCD) market and have recently expanded pressure into large-screen and higher-value segments, including organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs. According to market researcher Omdia, Samsung’s global market share stood at 29.1% last year, while TCL and Hisense posted 13.1% and 10.9%, respectively.
 
Samsung has also begun broader restructuring across its home appliance business. The DA Business, which oversees home appliances, recently held a management briefing for employees and outlined future business plans aimed at improving profitability. Since late last month, Samsung has also launched a management review of its Korea business unit, which handles domestic sales and marketing for TVs, home appliances and smartphones. The company is also reported to have decided to exit its China home appliance business, 34 years after entering the market in 1992.
 

Lee’s appointment is seen as a sharp break from past leadership in Samsung’s TV unit, as he is a marketing specialist rather than a career engineer. A non-developer leading the VD Business is a rarity, with the last such case dating to Choi Gee-sung in 2007, about 20 years ago.
 
Lee previously served as CEO of Adobe Systems Korea in 2005 and as the first head of Google Korea in 2007. He later became the first Korean to serve as a vice president at Google’s headquarters in 2011, overseeing advertising and services. After joining Samsung in 2014, he was credited as a key figure in expanding the company’s ad-supported free streaming service, Samsung TV Plus, and its Samsung Art Store subscription service for viewing artwork on TV screens.
 
While Samsung’s TV leaders have focused on hardware advances such as higher resolution and larger screens, Lee’s leadership is expected to accelerate a shift toward a platform model that generates recurring revenue through content and service payments on TVs.
 
An industry official said the global TV market has already entered a mature phase, and Samsung is signaling it wants to define the TV not simply as a display device but as a living-room platform centered on content and advertising revenue. The official said the strategy aims to secure sustainable growth by strengthening TV software competitiveness.