SEOUL -- Activist U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management is once again attempting to untangle the notoriously byzantine governance structure of the Samsung Electronics group. The question remains whether the South Korean conglomerate will be more open to reforms this time as it approaches a major turning point.
Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the eldest son of Chairman Lee Kun-hee, is set to be appointed as a director to the company board during an extraordinary shareholders meeting scheduled for later this month. By all appearances, the younger Lee is being groomed to take over his father's empire. But the public relations conflagration brought on by the Galaxy Note 7's exploding batteries is already testing his leadership mettle.
