Samsung LCD business spin off gains shareholder approval

Samsung is moving full steam ahead with its plans to spin off its unprofitable LCD-making division into a separate, fully-owned subsidiary. The company’s shareholder have approved the move, which means that on April 1st we should see a new company called “Samsung Display Co.” That’s not to be confused with Samsung Mobile Display Co., which manufactures OLED displays. Nor is it to be confused with S-LCD Co., the subsidiary borne of a joint-venture with Sony, which also makes LCD panels. Sony has sold its stake in S-LCD to Samsung, in case you were looking for more corporate complication.

If the existence of three different display-making Samsung subsidiaries seems crazy to you, you can seek sanity in the rumor that all of the above are a precursor to a merger into a single, display-making subsidiary with expertise in both OLED and LCD — with potential plans to shift resources towards OLED as profits and sales on LCD diminish. That certainly makes sense, but honestly we’ll accept any corporate structure that enables Samsung to keep pushing those pixels.