Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics has outdone itself again, with it's fourth quarter profits up 64-percent on-year, on the back of huge semiconductor profits.
Cha Sang-mi has more.
Korea's Samsung Electronics said it recorded an operating profit of about 14 billion U.S. dollars for the quarter ending in December,-- up 64-percent from the year before.
The company's fourth-quarter revenue was around 61-and-a-half billion dollars,... up 23-percent on-year.
Looking at the full year,... the company recorded sales of 223-point-4 billion dollars last year, with an operating profit of over 50 billion dollars, nearly doubling that seen the year before.
All of this,... over strong demand for memory chips and sales of high-end display panels that go into Apple's iPhone X.
The world's biggest chipmaker, said it expects the demand for chips to remain strong in the new year,... and announced a 50-to-1 stock split.
Upon the announcement, the company's shares jumped more than 6-percent during the morning trade,... with shares hovering around 2,460 dollars, two hours into trading.
In a written statement, Samsung said its board believes a stock split would make investing in the company "more accessible and provide dividends to a wider range of investors from 2018."
The company managed to increase the value of its shares by 41-percent last year,... despite the leadership vacuum due to its heir apparent Lee Jae-yong's imprisonment related to the corruption scandal surrounding former President Park Geun-hye.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.