In 1995, Samsung CEO Kun-hee Lee was so disgusted by the low quality of the company’s phones and other electronics that he ordered a bonfire built and burned it all, around $50 million worth, in front of 2000 employees, many of whom cried.
Samsung started to rise as an international corporation in the 1990s. Samsung’s construction branch was awarded contracts to build one of the two Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the Burj Khalifa in United Arab Emirates. In 1993, Lee Kun-hee sold off ten of Samsung Group’s subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics, engineering and chemicals. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the Sungkyunkwan University foundation.
