Samsung profit drops amid Note7 crisis

Samsung Electronics Co. reported a 17 per cent slump in third-quarter profit after the demise of its fire-prone Note 7 line threw the world’s largest smartphone maker into disarray. Scores of reports about battery fires and explosions forced Samsung to kill its most profitable model in October, punctuating its worst corporate crisis to date. Net income fell to 4.41 trillion won ($3.9 billion) in the September quarter as the company dealt with a debacle that may ultimately cost more than $6 billion. While the crisis has cast a pall over the smartphone division, the display and chip businesses - which supply screens and memory to TV makers and rival phone brands - have held up well. Its shares have gone on a roller-coaster ride since the Note 7 recall began in September, at one point shedding more than $20 billion of market value. (Jungah Lee/Bloomberg)