Samsung Electronics formally has a brand new govt chairman. The inheritor to the Samsung empire, Lee Jae-yong (aka Jay Y. Lee), ascended to the throne of the world’s largest chipmaker on Thursday. Samsung introduced the transfer alongside its Q3 2022 earnings report, which it in all probability hopes will distract from the 23 p.c drop in earnings in comparison with the earlier quarter.

Lee has been the de-facto chief of Samsung for a number of years now, so his appointment is generally a formality. The former Samsung chairman and Lee’s father, Lee Kun-hee, died in 2020, however earlier than that he was incapacitated for years following a 2014 coronary heart assault. Lee’s ascension to chairman has at all times been anticipated, however it has been delayed as a result of Lee’s quite a few authorized points.

If you ever desire a wild studying subject, search for “Choi-gate,” a South Korean political scandal involving bribes paid to Choi Soon-sil, a “shamanistic cult member,” who had Rasputin-like affect over South Korea’s then-president, Park Geun-hye. Lee’s function within the scandal concerned bribing Choi to persuade President Park to approve a merger of two Samsung Group associates. Lee was initially sentenced to 5 years in jail, whereas Park was impeached and faraway from workplace. (Samsung’s ruling household is so stuffed with drama that NBC as soon as thought-about basing a TV drama sequence on them. You can see why!)

Samsung’s empire is chargeable for about 20 p.c of South Korea’s gross home product, although, and the nation is famously lenient with its high enterprise executives. An attraction and retrial reduce Lee’s five-year jail sentence to 30 months, and after finally serving 18 months of that sentence, Lee was out on parole. Lee couldn’t technically be employed at Samsung whereas on parole, however that didn’t cease him from giving President Biden a tour of the amenities in May.

In August, Lee obtained a presidential pardon, ending the parole phrases and paving the best way for him to take over as chairman. Having a legal on the helm will solely imply Samsung’s prince is following in his father’s footsteps. The elder Lee was convicted of bribery in 1996 and of tax evasion and breach of belief in 2009, however in each instances he was by no means arrested, by no means served jail time, and later obtained presidential pardons. The formal title of chairman—and the power to formally work at Samsung once more—provides Lee extra political clout to increase strikes and strategic choices.

The new chairman’s authorized troubles will not be essentially over. Lee remains to be dealing with yet one more trial for inventory worth manipulation and accounting fraud.