Dozens of Samsung mobile division executives dismissed from posts

Top level Samsung executives may have managed to escaped the axe in Samsung’s latest reshuffle, but dozens of other executives have not been so lucky. The under-performing mobile division has been hardest hit, with dozens of executives relieved from their posts in the past week.

Mobile unit employees who lost their jobs this Wednesday include the division’s Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents and Executive Vice Presidents, according to sources close to Samsung, including some in the development, marketing and media solution departments. The IT and Mobile Communications division employed roughly 200 executives before the round of lay-offs.

Samsung has declined to comment on the specifics of any executive dismissals, although the industry has expected a reshuffle in the struggling mobile division after multiple quarters of missed expectations and falling revenues.

Samsung had been working to reach an annual smartphone sales target of 500 million [units] in the long term, but that now looks difficult to achieve, – Lee Seung-woo, IBK Securities

According to the sources, the Media Solutions Center, which was the focus of the recent reshuffle, lost roughly half of its 15 executives and the division president, Hong Won-pyo, reassigned to lead the company’s global marketing-strategy office. Earlier D.J. Lee, the former president and head of mobile marketing, also resigned from his post, although the mobile unit’s Chief Executive, J.K. Shin, has kept his position. New appointments and the final reorganization plans will be announced soon, according to Samsung.

Along with the executive reshuffle, Samsung has readjusted its sales expectations for 2015, by planning to produce fewer smartphone models next year, and has promised a renewed approach to smartphone development. But is this enough to give the company a fresh start come 2015?