Sold at 340,000 won per share on June 17; holdings drop to 23,884 shares

Sale draws attention as rare move by a sitting president-level executive

Lee Won-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display Business Division, answers questions from South Korean reporters at a press briefing held at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. [Samsung Electronics]
Lee Won-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display Business Division, answers questions from South Korean reporters at a press briefing held at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. [Samsung Electronics]

Lee Won-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display (VD) Business Division, recently sold approximately 1 billion won ($651,000) worth of Samsung Electronics shares — an unusual move for an executive of his rank that has drawn considerable attention.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Lee sold 3,000 shares of Samsung Electronics common stock at 340,000 won per share on June 17, netting 1.02 billion won from the transaction.

Lee had held 26,884 shares of Samsung Electronics common stock before the sale, which reduced his holdings to 23,884 shares.

Lee was appointed head of the VD Business Division in a rare, targeted personnel reshuffle on May 4. The division had been under pressure to reinvent itself amid shifting content consumption patterns and an aggressive push by low-cost Chinese TV makers. Samsung Electronics tapped Lee — a content, service and marketing specialist who previously worked at global firms including Google and Adobe — to lead a turnaround of its TV business.

Born in 1967, Lee earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University in the United States. He joined the VD Business Division in 2014 as head of the service strategy team. He resigned from his role as head of the service business team in the MX (Mobile Experience) Business Division in late 2023, but later returned — an unusual career arc. He came back the following year as head of global marketing at the DX Division, once again leading marketing strategy across the TV and mobile businesses.

The sale is also drawing scrutiny because of Lee's seniority. Share transactions by top executives are closely watched by investors as a matter of corporate accountability. No other president-level executive at Samsung Electronics has sold shares this year.


jeongwan@heraldcorp.com