Samsung Mobile Chief's pay more than doubled in 2014

Samsung paid co-chief executive J.K. Shin, who oversaw the company’s ascent to the top of the smartphone market, $13 million in 2014, more than double what he received in the previous year. The increase was largely due to a special bonus payment following Samsung’s record profits in 2013. Samsung suffered its first annual profit decline in three years in 2014, as operating income from the mobile division fell 42 percent. Shin’s total 2014 compensation, disclosed in Samsung’s annual report filed on Tuesday, was 14.57 billion won ($13 million). This included a base salary of 1.73 billion won and 3.73 billion won in incentives. The executive received 9.11 billion won in other payments, which included an unspecified one-time bonus payment, which a spokeswoman said was related to the company’s 2013 performance and paid in 2014. Last year the smartphone maker lost out to arch-rival Apple Inc in the premium segment and lost market share to Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi in the low-end market. Whether Shin, who took charge of the mobile division in 2009, can engineer another rebound remains to be seen. The firm’s latest Galaxy S phones, which will start selling in April, have been well-received by critics and analysts say new mid-tier models have sold well in the January-March quarter. Samsung chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun, who also heads the firm’s components business, got a 9.39 billion won package, up from 6.77 billion won a year earlier as the chips division’s 2014 profit hit a four-year high. Samsung did not disclose compensation details for Jay Y. Lee, the company’s vice-chairman and son of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The elder Lee receives no salary from the technology company. Reuters