Samsung makes significantly less operating profit

Profit from ordinary operations fell 69 percent year-on-year to 4.3 trillion won ($3.7 billion), the South Korean market-leading maker of memory chips and smartphones said on Tuesday. Overall, however, the surplus more than doubled to 23.84 trillion won.

Amid the global economic slowdown, the business environment deteriorated significantly in the fourth quarter due to weak demand, it said. In the smartphone business, demand continued to be sluggish. The prices for memory chips have fallen.