JoongAng Ilbo Receives Governmental Approval on Separation from Samsung

JoongAng Ilbo officially received governmental approval on separation from Samsung group.
The Fair Trade Commission(FTC) approved JoongAng's request to separate from Samsung on March 24, which will enable JoongAng Ilbo to restart as an independent press from April.
The FTC granted approval on all nine businesses that wanted to break off from Samsung. They are JoongAng Ilbo, JoongAng M&B, JoongAng Ilbo New Media, JoongAng Culture Media, JoongAng Economist, Bokwang, Bokwang Family Mart, Bokwang Venture Capital, and Phoenix Communications.
The actual planning for the separation began back in October 1994 when Samsung group announced its intentions to seperate JoongAng Ilbo and other concerns over five years.
The FTC justified their approval because JoongAng Ilbo's equities currently owned by Samsung group decreased to 9.27 percent from 43.62 percent at the end of 1997 and this meets the main condition that less than 10 percent of the equities should be controlled by the parent company when an affiliate wants to be independent.
The additional conditions set by the FTC such as mutual debt guarantee and revenue depending ratio have all been met and all the separation processes have been concluded.

Shang-Bok Shim : simsb@joongang.co.kr