Lee Kun-hee, South Korea’s biggest corporation, Samsung Group’s chairman, has passed away at the age of 78. Mr. Lee Kun-hee helped to boost the small corporation of his father into one of the biggest economic pillars, expanding into various regions such as shipping and insurance.
Mr Lee helped to grow his father’s small trading business into an economic powerhouse, diversifying into areas like insurance and shipping.https://t.co/5flSC7LQZY
— BBC News India (@BBCIndia) October 26, 2020
In his era, the company even became one of the world’s leading and biggest tech companies. Moreover, Lee was considered the richest person in South Korea with a net worth of around 21 billion dollars.
On Sunday, the company reported that Mr. Lee Kun-hee passed away with his family by his side, but it didn’t disclose the exact reason for his death. But in 2014, Lee had a heart attack that pushed him living in care.
He was the richest person in South Korea, according to Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $21 billion (Sh2.2 trillion) A heart attack in 2014 had left him living in care. https://t.co/Eq4lIO0XNT
— TheStarKenya (@TheStarKenya) October 25, 2020
Samsung, in a statement, said that all of them at the firm will cherish his memory and also grateful for the journey they shared with Lee.
Lee joined the family corporation after his father’s death
He was the 3rd son of Lee Byung-Chul (who started Samsung Group in 1938). Mr. Lee Kun-hee was linked to Samsung as a chairman after the death of his father in 1987.
At that moment, the company was known as a manufacturer of low quality and cheap products. But in his leadership, fundamental changes were adopted at the firm, and he took Samsung to the next level, and now the firm is known as one of the leading tech giants across the world.
One of the inspiring and influencing moments of his life was when he told the company’s workers that let’s reform everything except our kids and wives. At that time, Samsung burned its whole mobile phone stock comprises of 150,000 mobile sets.
Lee wasn’t much friendly to the media and acquired a reputation for being a loner, which led to set his nickname as ‘The Hermit King.’ Moreover, Samsung became the biggest in South Korea’s firm that dominates the economy of the country.
Twice he was declared as criminal, and one of them was bribing of Roh Tae-woo (the former president of South Korea). Mr. Lee stepped down, in 2008, as Samsun chairman when he was charged with embezzlement and evasion. Furthermore, he was sentenced to a 3-year jail for tax dodging, but in 2009, he was given a presidential pardon.