LG plans to replace CEO Yong Nam on Oct. 1, becoming the second big mobile phone company to replace its CEO in a week.
Nam, who was named vice chairman and CEO of LG on Jan. 1, 2007, is stepping down due to struggles with the company's handset business, according to reports. Koo Bon Joon, a younger brother to LG Group Chairman Koo Bon Moo, will replace Nam.
The move comes just a week after Nokia said its CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo would step down amid its own smartphone struggles. Kallasvuo was replaced by Microsoft executive Stephen Elop.
Nokia is the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer and LG is third, but both companies have struggled to hold off smartphone competitors like Research In Motion, Apple and others.
Nokia and the Symbian mobile operating system will continue to lose share until at least 2014 will continue to lose share until at least 2014, according to Gartner. LG, which has placed bets making devices for the increasingly popular open-based Google Android OS, apparently still wasn't performing well enough to save Nam's job.
Nam was a 30-year veteran with experience across several LG companies. He was president and CEO of LG Telecom from 1998 to 2006, which he helped grow from a $560 million business to $2.6 billion while subscribers tripled.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, LG has come under increased pressure this year and its global market share in cell phones fell to 10 percent in the second quarter, down from 11 percent a year ago, as more functional smart phones hit the market. LG just this week made its first global launch of a smartphone, the Optimus One, according to the newspaper.
LG, also one of the world's largest TV and home appliance makers, reported a 90 percent drop in operating profit for its handset business in the second quarter, according to The Financial Times.
