Lee Jae-yong, the only son of former Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, is the most likely to be the group’s heir apparent along with the current title as the chief operating officer (COO) and vice president of the Samsung Electronics.
But, the junior Lee’s activities are less apparent to the public. It might safely be said that his nickname is the “hermit prince” while his father was called “hermit king”.
The junior Lee has been increasingly in the media spotlight with appearances at official events during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, U.S., in January. However, his moves after the CES are hardly seen out in the public and it seems that he is back to his routine life with a low-profile, despite the comment by Choi Gee-sung - the president of Samsung Electronics- saying that there will be no mysticism on the Junior Lee since the vice president took assumption as COO at Samsung Electronics.
What is known about him is only a brief comment by Samsung executives that Jae-yong is a young man with humble attitude to listen up. The junior Lee, as a matter of fact, seems to try to fit into such a comment by keeping a low-profile in the official events.
Lee also tends to be reluctant to elaborate his role in the company. “I will do what the president Choi asks me since I am not well aware of the responsibilities as COO,” he said to the journalists at the CES.
But, his role in the group is reportedly known to be more than just the subordinate given the activities in the past two years after stepping down the post of chief customer officer (CCO) in 2008. According to the Samsung official, he spent a year on expanding the global networks with key figures in the economic circle. As a part of the efforts, the junior Lee began to make an overseas trip at least once a month, starting from February in 2009.
He has purportedly met with a variety of high-profile figures including Sony Chairman Howard Stringer, Apple`s chief operating officer Tim Cook, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega and US Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth. The junior Lee also visited important trading countries such as Japan and Taiwan to examine market trends and to sustain relations with the clients.
Last July, Jae-yong attended the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. The exclusive conference is to discuss the status and forecast on corporate management and global finance. Since the most business moguls from Hewlett and Packard, Microsoft, and Dell attended the conference, the junior Lee’s visit to the Sun Valley made him a de facto head of Korea’s biggest conglomerate.
Yet, big hurdles stand in the junior Lee's way, industry watchers say. First, Jae-yong lacks credentials and time to prove he is ready to restart his climb to the top of the corporate ladder.
For instance, in 2000, Jae-yong led 14 Internet venture companies, including e-Samsung as the largest shareholder, but the companies became insolvent after just one year, with e-Samsung suffering 20 billion won in losses. Nine other Samsung affiliates purchased stocks in 2001 to make up for the loss and Samsung's crown prince did not suffer any financial damage. Critics claim it incurred losses to the company.
In 2005, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy filed the complaint against the son and heads of the affiliates for what it calls the neglect of duty, claiming they took Jae-yong's failure upon themselves and consequently caused damage to Samsung employees and shareholders.
"However, it is hard to say that they bought the stocks only to cover Jae-yong's financial losses and to prevent him from losing his reputation," an investigator of the probe team said.
``Even though the affiliates were ordered by the strategic planning office, they underwent normal decision-making processes, such as board of directors' voting, and purchased the stocks at reasonable prices. So we cannot say they breached trust only because they purchased a specific person's shares.''
Still, no one can simply dismiss his ability to be responsible for controlling the Samsung Group just because of his clumsy management on eSamsung. It would not be an overstatement that the junior Lee made a quite a contribution to placing S-LCD, a venture company between Samsung and Sony, on top of the list for LCD and display sales in the world.
He said to have built up the foundation for LED business, a new field where Samsung Electronics made a sensational debut last year.
A a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics has recently announced the U.S. availability and pricing of its award-winning LED HDTVs. Samsung has succeeded in delivering the largest LED TV lineup with eight series ranging from 19 to 65 inches, with select series delivering the most immersive 3D experience.
Samsung’s LED TV lineup will begin to roll out in retail this month.
Thanks to a great success in LED market, there is speculation that the junior Lee would soon assume the post as the head of Samsung LED division.
As a result, concerns over the Junior Lee’s ability to lead the group die down as several projects and business he spent time and energy started to show some improvements. Now seems to be the high time for Jae-yong to prove himself to be a next leader.
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