Samsung Electronics plans/ announces $7.2 billion buyback to boost shareholder gains

Samsung Electronics on Friday announced its plans to buy back $ 7.17 billion worth of shares over a one-year period in a bid to enhance shareholder value. This marks the first buyback initiative since 2017, following the company's shares hitting their lowest level in over four years, earlier this week.
The electronics giant said that out of the total 3 trillion won worth of shares, 50.14 million common shares and 6.91 million preferred shares will be repurchased and canceled over the next three months.
Decisions such as ways to enhance shareholder value, including the timing and strategy for utilizing the remaining seven trillion won in the share repurchase program are in the hands of the board of directors, the company stated.
According to analysts, this decision will likely help Samsung’s performance in the short run, the company, however, needs concrete business plans to better support its share performance.
Last month, the world's leading memory chip maker, Samsung, apologised for a disappointing quarterly profit, as it lagged behind its rivals in supplying artificial intelligence chips to Nvidia.
Samsung's stock was the worst-performing among major global chipmakers, further impacted by President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on imports, which could reduce demand for electronics products.
Earlier in the day, Samsung electronics shares surged by 7.2 per cent, recording the biggest daily jump since March 2020 and rebounding from their lowest level since mid-June 2020. However, they remained down 32 per cent year-to-date.