Samsung Elec names Jay Y. Lee executive chairman

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics’ de facto leader Jay Y. Lee was named executive chairman on Thursday, a symbolic move confirming that South Korea’s most valuable company will be officially run by the third generation of its founding family.

The change reflects a role Lee, 54, has held since his father, the late patriarch and Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, was hospitalised in 2014, analysts said. The elder Lee died in 2020.