Lee Kun-Hee
Lee Kun-hee (born January 9, 1942) is Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics. He resigned on April 21, 2008 owing to Samsung Slush funds scandal, but returned in March 24, 2010. Lee has a degree in economics from Waseda University in Tokyo and attended an MBA course at George Washington University in the United States in 1966 without earning a degree. He speaks Korean, English, and Japanese. In 1996, Lee became a member of the International Olympic Committee. With an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion, he and his family rank among the Forbes richest people in the world. He is the third son of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull.In the early 1990s, believing that Samsung group was overly focused on producing massive quantities of low-quality goods and that it was not prepared to compete in quality, Lee famously said "Change everything except your wife and kids". The shift is now widely considered a success. One of the group's subsidiaries, Samsung Electronics, is now one of the world's leading developers and producers of semiconductors, and was listed in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 largest corporations in the world in 2007.
In an interview, Lee expressed pride in the fact that Samsung attracts the brightest minds in south korea, but added that his new goal is to attract talent from all over the world to ensure that Samsung will remain one of the top companies in the world for years.
His siblings and some of their children are also executives of major Korean business groups. His eldest brother's son is currently chairman of the CJ group, a company holding businesses in food, beverages and entertainment. His second eldest brother's sons ran Saehan Media, one of the largest blank media producers. His older sister is the owner of Hansol Group, the country's largest paper manufacturer and producer of electronics and telecomunications. One of his sisters is married to Koo Ja-hak, brother of former chairman of the LGgroup and himself a former chairman of LG Semiconductor. He is currently running one of the largest food services firms in Korea. His younger sister, Lee Myung Hee is currently the chairman of the Shinsegae Group, the largest retail company in Korea, with major holdings such as the Shinsegae Department Store and E-Mart. Lee yoon hung, one of his daughters, committed suicide in 2005 and he did not attend her funeral. In late 2005, Lee spent time being tested for cancer at the Md anderson medical center in houston.
