LG shares CEO responsibilities with President David Jung

LG Electronics announced the changes to its organization structure cutting down on the role of the CEO as part of the strategy to strengthen its business units.
LG Electronics in a statement today said that its CEO Jo Seong-jin will focus more on strategy and planning for the future by assigning more of his day-to-day responsibilities to president and CFO David Jung.

David Jung will take over responsibility for LG’s business support operations from the CEO which includes supervision of the company’s support operations at all Korean facilities as well as functions such as corporate security and communications.

South Korea’s LG Electronics earlier said its third-quarter operating profit rose 45 percent as its mobile phone division narrowed loss, Reuters reported. LG’s quarterly revenue rose 1 percent to 15.4 trillion won.

A focus on sales of mid-range mobile phones and cost-reduction plans contributed to smaller losses in its mobile division.

Brian Kwon, currently president of LG’s Home Entertainment Company, will also assume leadership of the Mobile Communications (MC) Company.

Kwon played a critical role in transforming LG’s TV, audio and PC business into category leaders and his knowledge and experience in the global marketplace will be instrumental in continuing LG’s mobile operations turnaround.

Current MC Company president Hwang Jeong-hwan, who was brought in a year ago and bolstered the operation’s quality assurance and product development efficiency, will focus fully on his other role as head of LG’s Convergence Business Development Office.

Executive vice president Kim Jin-yong, who heads the Vehicle Components Company’s fast-growing smart business efforts in intelligent driving and vehicle connectivity, will assume the role of president of Vehicle Component Solutions (VS) Company.

LG’s operating profit reached 749 billion won ($657.83 million) in the July-September quarter, in line with the company’s guidance.

The new V40 smartphone is expected to “boost sales in the fourth quarter” and help the loss-making mobile business as it seeks to return to profit, LG Electronics said.

Sales of high-end OLED TV products have been a big hit for the home entertainment business after it cut prices to improve their competitiveness.

Increasing competition in the high-end television set market complicated the company’s earnings outlook, analysts said, adding that profit growth could also be limited due to a saturated smartphone market.