Samsung unveils surprise US$7 billion buyback over coming year

SAMSUNG Electronics plans to buy back about US$7.2 billion of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programmes in its history.

Korea’s largest company will repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday (Nov 15).

Samsung’s shares rose as much as 8.6 per cent on Friday before the buyback announcement, though it remains down sharply on the year.

The world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones has struggled to keep pace with SK Hynix in the AI memory chip business. BLOOMBERG