LG replaces CEO, top executives after losses

SEOUL: South Korean appliance giant LG Electronics replaced its CEO and a raft of other top leaders Thursday after net profits slumped more than 30 percent in the third quarter and its smartphone division struggles.

The company is South Korea’s second-largest electronics firm after Samsung, producing a range of products, from mobile phones to televisions and home appliances including air conditioners, washers and refrigerators.

CEO Jo Seong-jin, dubbed a “washing machine genius”, was appointed in December 2016, and is respected in South Korea for his unlikely journey to the top without a college degree in the education-driven country.

But he has struggled to turn around the failing smartphone division, which last month announced its 18th consecutive quarter of losses.