Samsung Pledges to Tap $39 Billion Cash Hoard for Key M&A Targets

Samsung pledged to dip into its $39 billion cash hoard to buy or absorb companies beyond its consumer electronics knitting as a hedge against continued slowdowns in its core smartphones, televisions and chips segments.

The Korean manufacturer disclosed its M&A plans at its first analysts’ day since 2005 as top management—including vice chairman and chief executive Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon; president and chief financial officer Sang-Hoon Lee; IT and mobile communications president and chief executive JK Shin; and presidents of its consumer electronics, display, memory and semiconductor units—exchanged information with investors the company typically keeps to itself.

Samsung Chief Financial Officer Lee Sang Hoon told about 350 attendees that in the past three years the vendor has spent about $1 billion investing in 14 companies, but will step up the pace and rate of deal-making in the future. In addition, Samsung is considering moves that could double its dividends to investors.

“We will expand our mergers-and-acquisitions strategy beyond a few target areas to pursue opportunities across a wide range of fields,” Lee said, adding that Samsung wants to up its competitive posture in its key markets and find new growth segments.

Other highlights from the meeting:

Android Beat also dug up a couple of goodies from the presentation materials: Samsung is working on its own core application processor, meaning sometime down the road it could dispense with licensing ARM processors and deploy its own core in smartphones and tablets. And, in 2014, the vendor expects to deliver devices with AMOLED panels sporting pixel-per-inch ratings of 560 followed by 4K displays in smartphones in 2015.