During a board meeting on the same day, the company approved the retirement of 50.1 million common shares and 6.91 million preferred shares, with the cancellation scheduled for Thursday.
Additionally, Samsung plans to buy back another 3 trillion won in treasury shares between February 18 and May 16 to further boost shareholder value. This initiative includes the purchase of 48.15 million common shares valued at 2.7 trillion won and 6.63 million preferred shares worth 303.6 billion won.
Of the total, approximately 500 billion won will be designated for employee compensation, while the remaining 2.5 trillion won will be allocated to stabilize stock prices and enhance shareholder value, as stated in a regulatory filing.
This announcement follows the company's commitment made in November 2024 to repurchase shares totaling 10 trillion won over the course of a year, aimed at addressing declining stock prices amid increasing competition in the AI chip sector.
It remains uncertain whether Samsung's share buyback and cancellation will have a substantial effect on stock prices. Following the announcement of its repurchase plan in November, shares rose only 4.67 percent over three months, from 53,500 won to 56,000 won as of Monday. On Tuesday, Samsung's shares closed at 56,900 won, reflecting a 1.61 percent increase from the previous day.
Furthermore, on Tuesday, Chairman Lee Jae-yong was not included in the list of nominees for the board of directors, highlighting the ongoing legal challenges that may affect his potential return.
The company's next shareholder meeting is scheduled for March 19, with speculation surrounding Lee's possible reinstatement this year, five years after his last term on the board from 2016 to 2019.
The choice to leave Lee out comes after prosecutors challenged the recent appellate court's decision to clear him of stock manipulation and accounting fraud related to a 2015 merger between two Samsung companies.
In the meantime, Samsung has put forward Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who leads the chip division, and CTO Song Jai-hyuk as new internal directors for the board.
They’ve also nominated Lee Hyuk-jae, a chip specialist and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Seoul National University, as a new outside director. Lee, who earned his PhD in engineering from Purdue University, is in charge of SNU’s semiconductor research center. With his addition, the board will have three chip experts, as the tech giant aims to boost its competitiveness in the struggling chip sector.
Several current board members are also up for reappointment, including Roh Tae-moon, who heads the mobile division, Kim Jun-sung, CIO of the National University of Singapore, Heo Eun-nyeong, an engineering professor at Seoul National University, and Yoo Myung-hee, a former trade minister of South Korea.
If all the nominations go through, Samsung’s board will grow from nine to ten members, consisting of four internal directors and six external directors.