Samsung has announced a new plan to return the company’s flat-panel display business to profitability. The company’s board of directors has voted to spin off Samsung’s LCD business into a separate firm called Samsung Display Co. The new firm will be entirely owned by Samsung Electronics, but will start off with 750 billion South Korean won (roughly $667 billion U.S.) in capital.
The spin-off is effective April 1st, 2012. Samsung is one of many television manufacturers currently making the switch to OLED and AMOLED technology. The company showed off a 55-inch OLED HDTV at CES 2012 last month. The TV generated quite a bit of buzz and garnered several awards. Creating a separate firm for Samsung’s LCD business allows the company to focus its primary attention on OLED technology, while allowing Samsung Display Co. to survive more or less on its own. The proposal approved by Samsung’s board also mentions the possibility that Samsung Display Co. could merge at some point with either Samsung Mobile Display or S-LCD Corporation.
