Samsung Electronics Co. has posted a near-30 percent drop in operating profit for the last quarter after seeing slowing global demand for its memory chips and smartphones. The South Korean technology giant on Thursday said its operating profit during the October-December quarter declined 28.7 percent at an annual pace to 10.8 trillion won ($9.7 billion). Sales fell by more than 10 percent to reach 59.3 trillion won ($53.3 billion), while net income fell 31 percent to reach 8.5 trillion won ($7.6 billion). Samsung said sales of its Galaxy smartphone also weakened amid a stagnant global market. For the whole year of 2018, Samsung posted an operating profit of 59 trillion won ($53 billion) on revenue of 244 trillion won ($219 billion), which were both record highs.

Source: ABC News January 31, 2019 02:21 UTC