[Anchor]

Despite announcing record-breaking earnings, Samsung Electronics saw its shares drop by more than 4%. The decline is largely attributed to the company's decision to postpone its shareholder return plans until next January.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the details.

[Reporter]

At 9:00 a.m. yesterday (October 29), Samsung Electronics shares started the session on an upward trend.

The optimism was driven by expectations ahead of the earnings release an hour later, but the mood shifted as soon as the announcement began.

Even after reporting a third-quarter revenue of 195 trillion won and an operating profit of 107 trillion won—roughly nine times more than the same period last year—the stock price turned downward.

As Samsung Electronics had previously signaled record-high performance, investors' focus shifted to additional shareholder return measures.

Analysts suggest that disappointment grew as no new plans were unveiled.

Samsung Electronics had previously announced plans to return more than 100 trillion won to shareholders this year, but the finalized announcement yesterday included only a 30 trillion won cash dividend.

The company postponed its decision on how to utilize the remaining up to 75 trillion won until January of next year.

[Park Soon-chul / CFO and Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics: The new shareholder return policy and the final scale of shareholder returns will be finalized at the board meeting scheduled for the end of January 2027.]

Immediately following this announcement, Samsung Electronics shares plummeted by more than 6%, ultimately closing down 4.13% at 232,000 won.

Although the company stated that a significant portion of the 75 trillion won will be used for share buybacks and cancellations, market evaluations indicate that it failed to meet heightened investor expectations.

The KOSPI index, which had risen by 10% over two consecutive days, also fell by more than 1%, relinquishing the 6,000 mark just one day after regaining it.

In contrast, SK Hynix—which announced an additional 60 trillion won in shareholder returns the day before—finished the session up 2.6%.

(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun, Video editing: Kim Jong-mi, Design: Kim Han-gil)