Samsung Electronics seeks to cut as many as 800 jobs in its digital media division through a voluntary retirement program that could be extended to other divisions, the Maeil Business Newspaper said on Thursday.
Samsung's digital media division makes flat-screen televisions, video and audio equipment and computers. Its semiconductor and telecommunication divisions will likely follow suit, Maeil reported, citing an unnamed company source.
A spokesman for Samsung, the world's biggest TV maker in the first quarter, could not immediately confirm the report.
Job cuts within large South Korean companies are very rarely publicized, and reductions are mostly made through voluntary buyout programs.
The retirement program mostly targets director-level employees and those in underperforming businesses, the paper said.
The digital media division has been grappling with the fast pace of price declines in the consumer electronics sector. While its digital TV business posts an operating profit margin around 5 percent, other segments were either in the red or underperforming internal targets, Maeil said.