Samsung Electronics America’s chief marketing officer Marc Mathieu recently left after spending nearly four years with the company.
Samsung Electronics Co. has fired a bunch of its US marketing staffers following an internal audit over gifting practices, Business Insider reported quoting people familiar with the situation.
However, it is not clear as to how many people were laid off. While a source said 40 people were let go, others said over 80 per cent of the marketing team were affected. Another source close to the situation said it was closer to 15 to 25 on a marketing team of about 200 people.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung Electronics audited its U.S. marketing operation to investigate whether employees violated company policies in their dealings with business partners, such as media companies and ad agencies.
Is this action related to the departure of Marc Mathieu?
The layoffs came amid broader changes at the company, including the recent departure of top US marketing executive as well as other senior executives outside the marketing group.
Samsung Electronics America’s chief marketing officer Marc Mathieu recently left after spending nearly four years with the company. However, the company didn’t give any details about the reason for his leaving or his replacement.
Speaking to Business Insider, Mathieu only said that his departure from Samsung is a personal decision and a career choice and that his last day with the company will be March 29.
Another top executive who left the company was Jay Altschuler, the head of media and planning, who was hired away from Unilever in 2015.
The departures of Mathieu and Altschuler came as a surprise to many people outside the company, who view them as being professional.
