LG leaving ‘all possibilities open’ for mobile unit, suggested sale

The past five years have not been kind to LG, as the company has experienced a long series of loss-making quarters and has lost market share to rival manufacturers. Now it appears that the company is considering drastic measures.

According ZDNet Korea and the country Yonhap News outlet, LG Electronics CEO Bong-Seok Kwon sent an email to employees stating that “all possibilities are open” for the future of the smartphone business.

“LG Electronics has reached the point where it is time to make the best choice, taking a calm view of its current and future competitiveness in the mobile business. Currently, all possibilities are open and the direction of the business operation is carefully reviewed ”, said the CEO was quoted by the media. He allegedly added that “in principle”, the members of the division will still be employed, regardless of the outcome.

A spokesman for LG confirmed the Android Authority that an email was actually sent to employees, but clarified that there was no mention of a sale or layoff:

The internal memo was simply to address (mainly) local Korean rumors informing employees that nothing had yet been decided about the future of our mobile business, but that management was keeping an open mind. To sum up, he said: ‘The management of LG Electronics is committed to making any decision necessary to solve its mobile business challenges in 2021. To date, nothing has been finalized.’

However, from Korea NewsPim reports that VinGroup of Vietnam – the parent of the nascent smartphone brand VinSmart – is interested in acquiring LG’s smartphone operations in North America.

LG’s smartphone sales network, after-sales support center, R&D center employees and the Latin American factory owned by the United States company are believed to be the main acquisition targets in the event of an agreement .

North America is LG’s most popular market, with the company taking third place in the United States, with a 13% market share in the third quarter of 2020. Therefore, any company that starts business in North America would, theoretically, have , a strong position in the region from the beginning.

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VinSmart, in particular, is virtually unknown outside Vietnam, but the company joined ZTE in being among the first to offer phones with selfie cameras under the display. More specifically, the VSmart Aris Pro packs a 20MP camera under the screen.

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