Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun resigns after company makes record profit

Samsung made two big announcements that were in stark contrast to one another. Firstly, it issued an optimistic third-quarter earnings guidance. And then a few hours later, Samsung's CEO and Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun announced his resignation from the company.

The surprise resignation of the Samsung head came as he was expected to take a bigger role following Jay Y Lee's arrest in February and the departures of other key executives in the wake of a bribery scandal.

In a statement, Kwon Oh-hyun said, "We are fortunately making record earnings right now, but this is the fruit of past decisions and investments; we are not able to even get close to finding new growth engines by reading future trends right now." He further added that "The company now needs a new leader more than ever and it is time for me to move to the next chapter in my life." He said he would help the company in recommending a successor.

In addition, Samsung said it expects operating profit of 14.5 trillion South Korean won ($US12.8 billion) for the three months ended September 30, up from 5.2 trillion won for the same period a year earlier. The South Korean technology giant estimates revenue to be 62 trillion won from July to September, up from the prior year’s third quarter of 47.82 trillion won.

Samsung said it expects to make more profit by selling parts to other smartphone makers like Apple.