South Korea court to rule on Samsung inheritance battle

Samsung Electronics Co. logo is seen at a showroom of its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest technology company by revenue, expects record earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 as shoppers continued to snap up its smartphones and tablets. The company said Tuesday its operating profit for the October-December quarter would be about 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion), up 89 percent from a year earlier and higher than expectations. It will release its full quarterly result including net profit at the end of this month. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, South Korea—A South Korean court is expected to rule Friday on an inheritance battle that has rocked the powerful Samsung conglomerate.

Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., which is the conglomerate’s flagship company, is facing off against his older brother and other relatives who all want a bigger piece of the Samsung cake.

The court’s decision might upset a dynastic succession in Samsung’s leadership as it could result in the unravelling of a cross-shareholding structure that allows Lee, who is South Korea’s richest person, to control the group as a minority shareholder.

Late last year, Lee’s only son Jay Y. Lee was promoted to vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, putting the 44-year-old closer to the top leadership position at the world’s largest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs.