Samsung's third quarter profit has sunk by 44 per cent to $871.1 million.

The company attributed the staggering decline to weakened demand and price-cutting on its semiconductor, telecom and LCD products. Nevertheless, Samsung managed to generate respectable third-quarter sales of $13.8 billion, which exceeded previous expectations of $13.4 billion. Digital media products, led by healthy flat-panel TV shipments, are now perceived as Samsung's fastest-growing business, with a profit margin that has increased by 19 per cent.

Despite the massive profit decline, Samsung noted that it was ready to exploit the current weaknesses of competitors with a strong balance sheet.

"Especially in the memory industry, given competitors' weakness, we will use this opportunity to better position ourselves to maximise our gains when the market recovers," said Samsung executive vice president Woosik Chu.

As IT Examiner previously reported, Samsung recently retracted a controversial bid to buy Sandisk for $5.9 billion, but remains open to future talks on the matter.

"This is all about business...The situation can change... but for now we don't have a plan," explained Chu. X

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