South Korean electronics firm Samsung has promoted Jay Lee, the son and heir of its chairman Lee Kun-hee to vice-chairman, as part of an annual reshuffle, moving the chief operating officer and president closer to the top job.
Samsung said in a statement: "As vice-chairman, Lee will build on his existing responsibilities and take a broader role in managing Samsung Electronics’ businesses."
"Lee will continue to play a critical role in transforming Samsung’s business model – the set (product) business into one based on a platform and the component business into a total solution provider," the company said.
Founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-chull, Jay Lee’s grandfather, Samsung is currently the world’s biggest seller of TVs, memory chips, flat screen and mobile phones.
Recently, Samsung surpassed US based iPhone maker Apple in smartphone sales.
Both Samsung and Apple are involved in several patent wars and in August Samsung was ordered to pay about $1.05bn in a patent infringement lawsuit.
