Samsung records Q4 loss, annual profit slumps

From InfoWorld: outh Korea's Samsung Electronics recorded a net loss for the last three months of 2008, while its net profit for the entire year fell 26 percent, it said Friday.

The company's net loss for the last three months of 2008 was 22 billion won (US$15 million) on 4 percent lower sales of 18.5 trillion won, said Robert Yi, head of Samsung's investor relations department in a conference call. Samsung said its full year net profit dropped 26 percent to 5.5 trillion won, despite a 15 percent increase in revenue to 73 trillion won.

Our company could not escape the rapid decline in the global economy," he said.

Samsung saw revenues fall as a result of lower prices for its mainstay memory chip and flat-panel display products. In the semiconductor sector revenues fell 18 percent from the third quarter and LCD sales dropped 12 percent.

As a result both the semiconductor and display business units lost money in the fourth quarter.

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