Samsung cuts jobs in loss-making LCD business

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday it had cut around 10 percent of senior management jobs in its flat panel division in an effort to restructure the loss-making business. The world's biggest maker of memory chips and flat-screen televisions said the move was aimed at helping it strengthen competitiveness in its liquid crystal display (LCD) unit. Memory chip and display panel makers have been hit by sluggish demand for most consumer electronics goods in developed nations due to the uncertain economic outlook. The executives affected will be on sabbatical until the end of the year and could be absorbed into other roles in a company-wide reshuffle, a Samsung spokesman told AFP. Samsung in July integrated its flat panel business with its chip division and moved its former LCD business chief, Chang Won-Kie, to another post in the company. Its second-quarter net profit fell 18 percent from a year earlier to 3.5 trillion won ($3.29 billion) amid weaker global demand for televisions and personal computers. South Korea's LG Display, the world's second-largest LCD maker, has slashed its capital spending target for 2012 to around 3.0 trillion won, 33 percent lower than this year's figure.