[THE INVESTOR]  Samsung Electronics is allegedly considering acquiring French audio equipment maker Focal as part of efforts to further strengthen its competitiveness in automotive parts, local media outlet Financial News reported on Oct. 25. “Samsung had actually hoped to acquire Danish premium audio maker Bang & Olufsen but the price was too high,” an unnamed Samsung executive was quoted as saying.“Samsung and Focal are finalizing the talks currently. The deal price could reach 200 billion won

Oct. 25, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Apple’s iPhone 7 and LG Electronics’ V20 have taken a sizable portion of the Korean smartphone market since their recent launches, which came on the heels of Samsung Electronics’s production halt of the Galaxy Note 7.The market is expected to see a continuous inflow of undecided customers as Samsung Electronics plans to urge remaining Note 7 owners to change their fire-prone devices.Since the iPhone 7 was first rolled out on Friday, around 62,000 consumers changed their telecom op

Oct. 24, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] A club for the richest and the most powerful South Korean capitalists is facing a make-or-break crisis, as its dubious links with politics have apparently failed to benefit its member conglomerates but rather harmed them, experts said.The purpose of the Federation of Korean Industries’ existence has been put to a question in recent weeks over its suspected role in a high-profile scandal involving a close confidante of the president and alleged influence-peddling. On Saturday, FKI’

Oct. 24, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] The cost of restructuring ailing Korean shipbuilders and shipping companies is estimated at 31 trillion won ($27 billion), with the cost projected to be offset after a decade, the International Monetary Fund’s report said Sunday. The report was based on the assumption that the creditors’ losses caused by debt restructuring would reach 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent of GDP along with 0.4 to 0.9 percent of the labor force employment impact. The figure was only calculated for the compani

Oct. 24, 2016

[THE INVESTOR] Chinese nationals have been increasingly making inroads into the expensive real estate market in Seoul and its surrounding cities, but the move will not be powerful enough to drive up the overall home prices, experts said.According to data by the Seoul Metropolitan City, the number of land lots owned by Chinese nearly doubled to 4,139 in the first half of this year from 2,113 at the end of 2014. By land size, property owned by Chinese nationals rose 29 percent to 171,600 square me

Oct. 24, 2016