Samsung says it’s considering ‘a holding company structure’

Samsung today unveiled a wide-ranging “roadmap of actions,” following an effort by activist investor Elliott Management to simplify the 47-year-old company, which employs more than 325,000 people.

Among the possibilities Samsung is exploring is the idea of “creating a holding company structure,” according to a statement. That move could appease Elliott, to a degree.

But that sort of restructuring is just one of many things that Elliott sought in its latest proposal.

Elliott was also concerned about leadership and governance, and Samsung will be looking at that.

In recognition of the ever more global nature of Samsung Electronics business, the company’s board of directors is pursuing plans to invite new independent board members with international corporate experience. With the help of outside advisors, the board is in the process of identifying a number of highly qualified candidates and plans to nominate at least one new board member with robust global C-suite experience for approval at the next annual shareholder meeting in March 2017.

The Board aims to further strengthen corporate governance procedures by creating a new governance committee, comprised solely of independent board members. The committee will address Board decisions and proposals linked to enhancing shareholder value. It will also assume the responsibilities of the current corporate social responsibility committee.

In today’s statement, Samsung also said it’s evaluating “potential benefits and feasibility of listing the company’s shares on additional international exchanges.”

This sort of review could take as long as six months, Samsung said.

“As determining the optimal structure is a highly complex undertaking involving important strategic, operational, legal, regulatory and financial considerations, the company has retained external advisors to conduct a thorough review of the optimal corporate structure,” the company said.

Earlier today, a report indicated that Samsung was considering splitting the company in two.

Samsung has been facing criticism for the handling of its Galaxy Note7 smartphone recall.