Samsung’s Narrow Victory Margin Sends Warning to Other Chaebol

Activist investor Paul Elliott Singer may have lost to Samsung Group today but the narrow margin of defeat sends a warning to South Korea’s corporate dynasties that they should brace for more shareholder scrutiny.

At Samsung C&T Corp.’s shareholder meeting on Friday, 69.5 percent of votes were cast in favor of accepting a buyout offer from the parent group’s de facto holding company, Cheil Industries Inc. That’s only about 2.9 percentage points above the minimum two-thirds majority needed to approve the deal.