South Korean, tech giant, Samsung Electronics on Tuesday, November 29, said it will increase dividends and consider splitting itself, as it faces possibly the biggest structural change in its 47-year history.
Coming under pressure from shareholders to improve investor returns, Samsung said it will consider creating a holding company.
The move and a plan to raise dividends come after U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management in October called for the South Korean firm to split itself into a holding vehicle and an operating company.
However, the world’s top maker of smartphones, memory chips and televisions, said it was “absolutely neutral” about whether to proceed and provided little detail on the potential restructuring, underwhelming investors.
“The review does not indicate the management or the board’s intention one way or another,” the company said in a statement, adding it had hired external advisers for a review expected to take at least six months, Reuters reports.
Shares in Samsung, worth $224 billion combined, finished unchanged on the day at 1.677 million won ($1,434) each. The 2016 dividend boost fell short of some expectations, while uncertainty over the restructuring kept investors at bay, analysts said.
The firm also said it needed to maintain a net cash position of between 65 trillion won and 70 trillion won, suggesting it is not likely to pay the 30 trillion won special dividend sought by Elliott.
