Samsung in deep trouble

[Gary]

A quote today says "Samsung appears to be in deep trouble Friday, after 40 government investigators raided its key financial offices.

The raid follows allegations from a former top Samsung legal executive, Kim Yong-cheo, who this month said the conglomerate routinely bribed public officials to avoid investigations of its operations and kept a 200 billion won slush fund.

South Korean prosecutors have banned 14 Samsung executives from leaving the country after the country's president Roh Moo-hyun passed a National Assembly bill to launch an independent investigation of the company. That investigation begins on 6 January" this could cause some major headaches as Samsung is said to be in an emergency situation, as a major chip and electronics producer it could cause some severe problems for many manufactures world wide. Story here:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140149-c,legalissues/article.html

[Rik]

That is bad news for the industry as a whole, Gary. Expect price rises in memory chips and LCD screens in particular.

[Gary]

I know Rik, things could get very expensive very quickly, so many companies use Samsung chips and LCD screens the mind boggles 

[Rik]

My thoughts exactly. It shouldn't hit stocks before Xmas, but by January, the industry could be in trouble. Coupled with general financial tightening, January could be a difficult time for retailers.

[Gary]

If Samsung don't recover from this, I dread to think what will happen Rik. The industry would go into decline for quite sometime I fear especially as Christmas will see stocks of chips and LCD's sold at a greater rate the new year could get bleak.