Minority shareholders’ movement to fill the stockholders’ meeting on the 16th
‘Software update’ evolves in GOS controversy
Samsung Electronics’ regular general meeting of shareholders scheduled for the 16th is expected to be a ‘place of reconciliation’. Last year’s stock price, which had surpassed ‘100,000 electronics’, collapsed to 70,000 and sank to ‘60,000 electronics’, and the ‘Galaxy S22’ smartphone performance deterioration controversy, mass information hacking, and the international economy due to the war in Russia The business outlook for Samsung Electronics is not bright as bad news at home and abroad have occurred one following another, including the followingmath of regulations.
▲ Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul. yunhap news
Combining the industry situation on the 9th, Samsung Electronics is facing three adverse factors: ▲ GOS class action lawsuit ▲ leakage of internal data such as source code overseas ▲ stock price plunge. Among them, the controversy over the speed decrease related to the game optimization service (GOS) of the top-tier smartphone ‘Galaxy S22’, which Samsung Electronics launched ambitiously last month to strengthen its penetration into the premium smartphone market, is also receiving criticism from shareholders.
Samsung Electronics stopped the development of the existing Galaxy Note series and integrated it into the Galaxy S22 Ultra model and launched the game. Samsung Electronics said that when a user runs a high-performance game, it automatically adjusts the graphics processing unit (GPU) performance and lowers the screen resolution to strengthen the GOS in order to prevent excessive heat and battery consumption.
However, consumers said, “Samsung Electronics’ failure to notify in advance of the GOS function, which forcibly limits the maximum smartphone performance while selling expensive products exceeding 1 million won, is consumer deception and false exaggerated advertisements.” It is reported to the committee and a class action lawsuit is being pursued.
Samsung Electronics has evolved by providing a choice of GOS functions through software updates. The plan is to allow users to turn on and off the GOS function, which is currently automatically operating.
The leak of internal data following the hacking of the foreign hacker group LAPSUS$ earlier this month also made Samsung Electronics, which has prided itself as a ‘world-class company’, lose face. Earlier, on the 5th, Labsus released a file with a capacity of 190 GB, claiming that they had hacked a Samsung Electronics server.
Samsung Electronics emphasized, “The leaked data contains some source code necessary for Galaxy operation, but does not include employee and customer personal information. . However, in the Samsung Electronics-related community, the voices of shareholders are already loud, saying, “I will go directly to the Chairman of the Board and ask.”
The hopelessly falling share price is also expected to heat up the shareholders’ meeting. Samsung Electronics’ stock price peaked at 91,000 won on January 11 last year and emerged as a ‘people’s stock’ that attracts a large number of individual small investments, but has been on a downward trend due to the global semiconductor and supply chain crisis.
On the 8th, Samsung Electronics closed the transaction at 69,500 won, down 600 won (0.86%) from the previous day. According to the 2021 business report published by Samsung Electronics on the same day, minority shareholders with less than 1% stake decreased by 122,453 from 5,188,084 at the end of September last year to 5,066351 as of the end of December.
Reporter Park Seong-guk
Reporter Park Seong-guk
