Media reports in Europe and the U.S. referred to an article by Chosun Ilbo in which the largest Korean newspaper wrote that U.S. investor Carl Icahn would plan a hostile takeover for Samsung Electronics. The paper refers to an unnamed Samsung executive.

Reports here quote Samsung investor relations top manager Woosik Chu saying he has no knowledge of such a plan. He added the company had countermeasures in place to fend off such an attempt. In Samsung's German subsidiary, no one was available to comment. Nevertheless, the Samsung stock price rose to a new 15-months high of €205 (about $280) in early European trade.

The facts as described in Samsung's quarterly report are somewhat sobering, given the earnings decline. In its Q2, the company achieved a net income of KRW 1.42 trillion (about €1.55 billion or $2.12 billion), down 5 percent year-on-year and 11 percent quarter-on-quarter, driven down in part by DRAM price decline. Operating profit even declined 36 percent year-on-year and 23 percent quarter-on-quarter. Sales, however, rose 4 percent y-on-y to KRW 14.63 trillion.

By product groups, memory sales declined 7 percent (y-on-y as well as q-on-q) to KRW 3.08 trillion KRW while the System LSI business improved 23 percent in comparison with 2Q06 and 14 percent against the 1Q07. However, with a relatively small volume of KRW .65 trillion, the System LSI business could not prevent that the company's entire semiconductor business declined 5 percent q-on-q to KRW 4.26 trillion.

LCD business showed a healthy growth of 17 percent in comparison against the past quarter as well as against the same quarter last year. The company sold LCD screens at a value of KRW 3.34 trillion.

Business with telecommunications equipment declined 5 percent year-on-year to KRW 4.5 trillion. Appliances soared 23 percent (y-on-y as well as q-on-q) to KRW .95 trillion.

Profit trends went to opposite directions for LCDs and semiconductors: While LCD profit exploded by 290 percent compared to last year's quarter, semiconductor profit collapsed by 67 percent in the same period. Recent reports from the semiconductor industry, however, nourish the expectations that the DRAM price has stopped its decline in the meantime.