- Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee died at the age of 78. Lee was left bedridden by a heart attack in 2014.
- Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate business in South Korea, the world's 12th-largest economy.
- The company's overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of the nation's gross domestic product, making it crucial to South Korea's economic health.