South Korean multinational tech company, LG has announced their exit from the phone industry. The company broke the news this morning on the LG Mobile Facebook’s page after being approved by its Board of Directors.
A few days ago, there was a report from The Korea Times citing the move was imminent. According to industry sources, this was bound to happen. It is hard to keep a business afloat when it’s been operating in a net loss for the past five years.
According to a different report released last week, LG was engaged in series of negotiations in a bid to sell off the mobile division. But they ended up not coming to fruition.
In a statement released on their Facebook page, the company says the move “… will enable the company to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.”
Their current phone inventory will still be available for sale. And they will continue to provide software updates and service support for consumers of existing LG phones for some time. They did not say how long, only that the time frame will vary by region.
LG Electronics Inc. expects to close down the mobile phone business completely by July 31.
