SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics Co Ltd reported on Friday a likely 69% plunge in December-quarter operating profit, as a global economic downturn saps demand for electronic devices and clouds the outlook for the memory chip industry.
The world’s largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker estimated its profit fell to 4.3 trillion won ($3.37 billion) in October-December, from 13.87 trillion won a year earlier.
The profit fell short of a 5.9 trillion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
Revenue likely fell 9% from the same period a year earlier to 70 trillion won, Samsung said in a short preliminary earnings release.
Asia’s fourth-biggest company by market value is due to release detailed earnings later this month.
($1 = 1,274.1900 won)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
