In South Korea Rivals Samsung and LG Fight Dirty Over Washing Machines by Jonathan Cheng, Wall Street Journal Lyrics
SEOUL—At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, executives from Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. will talk about ultra-high-definition televisions and mega-capacity refrigerators. But the real battle between the South Korean firms may hinge on the humble washing-machine door.
In recent weeks, a cycle of recriminations between LG and rival Samsung over washing-machine door hinges has spun out of control.
The squabble began in September, when Samsung says that several of its “Crystal Blue” washing machines, which retail for about $2,700 each, were damaged at two Berlin shopping centers.
One of the culprits, according to Samsung: Jo Seong-jin, the 58-year-old president and chief executive of LG’s home appliance division, who Samsung says personally helped to break several of the high-end washing machines.
Hogwash, says LG. If Samsung’s state-of-the-art washing machines are indeed broken—LG says it hasn’t been given access to the appliances in question—it is only because of the shoddy quality of Samsung’s door hinges, the rival company says. Mr. Jo declined to comment on the incident.
The fracas between two of South Korea’s most global companies got even more rough and tumble ahead of CES, which opened this week and is a big annual event for the electronics and appliance industry.
Samsung, which says it has closed-circuit camera footage of the incident in its possession, filed a lawsuit in September and enlisted the help of South Korean prosecutors.
But just before Christmas, Mr. Jo failed to show up for a summons from Seoul prosecutors, citing a busy work schedule that included a corporate retreat and saying he would be happy to meet prosecutors after CES. LG countersued Samsung, complaining about alleged defamation and possible evidence tampering.
Prosecutors responded with a raid on LG’s headquarters and a travel ban—effectively blocking Mr. Jo from attending CES. On Dec. 30, just days before he was to depart, Mr. Jo met with prosecutors, freeing him to fly to Las Vegas.
It is the latest chapter in a long-running grudge between the country’s two best-known electronics brands, whose bitter crosstown rivalry extends far beyond the world of smartphones to more mundane home appliances.
For decades, Samsung and LG have competed in selling dishwashers, dryers, televisions and air conditioners.
While both companies have become successful global players, Samsung has been more dominant lately. It is the world’s largest maker of televisions, smartphones and memory chips by market share, and has said it outsells LG in the domestic refrigerator market, though LG disputes that claim.
Bickering isn’t uncommon in the cutthroat world of household appliances, where seemingly minor claims can give a product an edge in the $400 billion industry.
LG has battled U.S. rival Whirlpool Corp. over the definition of steam, and over who invented the refrigerator dispenser with an extendible tray and water spigot.
But the fights between Samsung and LG have always carried an extra dose of animosity. Employees and executives at South Korean conglomerates typically spend their entire careers at one organization, allowing the competitive juices to stew for decades.
The companies have sparred over which company’s televisions offered clearer pictures, and tussled in who-was-first fights over curved-screen smartphones and 105-inch curved TVs.
In 2012, when LG announced a jumbo-sized 870-liter refrigerator, Samsung responded with a video entitled “The Inconvenient Truth About Refrigerator Capacity,” which claimed to show that its 857-liter fridge could actually store more and suggested LG was being squirrelly in counting capacity.
The video infuriated LG, which made its own response video—and then sued Samsung for defamation. Undaunted, Samsung released a sequel.
The two eventually settled the dispute out of court. But last January, Samsung released a 1,000-liter refrigerator, bigger than LG’s 950-liter counterpart.
“LG Electronics can introduce larger-capacity refrigerators but only if consumers need them,” Mr. Jo said at the time.
In the most recent standoff, the stakes have been high from the start because the front-loading “Crystal Blue” is central to Samsung’s strategy to competing with LG on washing machines.
Samsung hired Chris Bangle, an American car designer who oversaw design at BMW AG, to help create the “Crystal Blue,” which Samsung bills as “a marvel of minimalism.”
The incident began just before a trade show in Berlin in September, when police officers responded to a call about a group of middle-aged Asian men wearing suits who had allegedly broken four washing machines.
One of the men, who LG called a company “researcher,” settled the incident by agreeing to purchase the appliances, and the company suggested Samsung was to blame.
“Unlike washing machines from other companies, a certain company’s washing-machine model was particularly weak on the hinges,” an LG spokeswoman said at the time.
The next day, however, Samsung says it reviewed footage from another store showing three more Crystal Blue washing-machine doors being vandalized—and this group included Mr. Jo, Samsung said.
That’s when things got ugly.
Samsung reported the incident to Korean prosecutors, and said it would “airlift” the appliances back to Seoul as evidence. In a statement at the time, Samsung said “the company in question has tarnished not only Samsung’s brand image but also the reputation of Samsung employees by making slanderous claims that our washing machines were defective.”
Samsung originally said it would be inappropriate to comment for this article given the investigation. After online publication, the company said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that an LG president and other executives “deliberately destroyed Samsung washing machines and made slanderous claims about the quality of our products.”
LG, for its part, complains that it hasn’t been given access to the appliances for months and questioned the reliability of Samsung’s video footage, saying that it was shot from a hallway outside the store and was far too grainy to identify any people. LG doesn’t dispute Mr. Jo was in the store examining the machines, but says it is normal in the industry to check out the competition during trade shows.
In December, LG filed its countersuit as a bid to gain access to the washing machines, a spokesman said. “They have full control of the evidence.”
LG says it hasn’t been bothered by all the dirty laundry that has emerged. In November, LG combined Mr. Jo’s home appliance division with the company’s air-conditioning business.
As part of the reshuffle, Mr. Jo won a promotion. He will be the new head of the enlarged division.
In recent weeks, a cycle of recriminations between LG and rival Samsung over washing-machine door hinges has spun out of control.
The squabble began in September, when Samsung says that several of its “Crystal Blue” washing machines, which retail for about $2,700 each, were damaged at two Berlin shopping centers.
One of the culprits, according to Samsung: Jo Seong-jin, the 58-year-old president and chief executive of LG’s home appliance division, who Samsung says personally helped to break several of the high-end washing machines.
Hogwash, says LG. If Samsung’s state-of-the-art washing machines are indeed broken—LG says it hasn’t been given access to the appliances in question—it is only because of the shoddy quality of Samsung’s door hinges, the rival company says. Mr. Jo declined to comment on the incident.
The fracas between two of South Korea’s most global companies got even more rough and tumble ahead of CES, which opened this week and is a big annual event for the electronics and appliance industry.
Samsung, which says it has closed-circuit camera footage of the incident in its possession, filed a lawsuit in September and enlisted the help of South Korean prosecutors.
But just before Christmas, Mr. Jo failed to show up for a summons from Seoul prosecutors, citing a busy work schedule that included a corporate retreat and saying he would be happy to meet prosecutors after CES. LG countersued Samsung, complaining about alleged defamation and possible evidence tampering.
Prosecutors responded with a raid on LG’s headquarters and a travel ban—effectively blocking Mr. Jo from attending CES. On Dec. 30, just days before he was to depart, Mr. Jo met with prosecutors, freeing him to fly to Las Vegas.
It is the latest chapter in a long-running grudge between the country’s two best-known electronics brands, whose bitter crosstown rivalry extends far beyond the world of smartphones to more mundane home appliances.
For decades, Samsung and LG have competed in selling dishwashers, dryers, televisions and air conditioners.
While both companies have become successful global players, Samsung has been more dominant lately. It is the world’s largest maker of televisions, smartphones and memory chips by market share, and has said it outsells LG in the domestic refrigerator market, though LG disputes that claim.
Bickering isn’t uncommon in the cutthroat world of household appliances, where seemingly minor claims can give a product an edge in the $400 billion industry.
LG has battled U.S. rival Whirlpool Corp. over the definition of steam, and over who invented the refrigerator dispenser with an extendible tray and water spigot.
But the fights between Samsung and LG have always carried an extra dose of animosity. Employees and executives at South Korean conglomerates typically spend their entire careers at one organization, allowing the competitive juices to stew for decades.
The companies have sparred over which company’s televisions offered clearer pictures, and tussled in who-was-first fights over curved-screen smartphones and 105-inch curved TVs.
In 2012, when LG announced a jumbo-sized 870-liter refrigerator, Samsung responded with a video entitled “The Inconvenient Truth About Refrigerator Capacity,” which claimed to show that its 857-liter fridge could actually store more and suggested LG was being squirrelly in counting capacity.
The video infuriated LG, which made its own response video—and then sued Samsung for defamation. Undaunted, Samsung released a sequel.
The two eventually settled the dispute out of court. But last January, Samsung released a 1,000-liter refrigerator, bigger than LG’s 950-liter counterpart.
“LG Electronics can introduce larger-capacity refrigerators but only if consumers need them,” Mr. Jo said at the time.
In the most recent standoff, the stakes have been high from the start because the front-loading “Crystal Blue” is central to Samsung’s strategy to competing with LG on washing machines.
Samsung hired Chris Bangle, an American car designer who oversaw design at BMW AG, to help create the “Crystal Blue,” which Samsung bills as “a marvel of minimalism.”
The incident began just before a trade show in Berlin in September, when police officers responded to a call about a group of middle-aged Asian men wearing suits who had allegedly broken four washing machines.
One of the men, who LG called a company “researcher,” settled the incident by agreeing to purchase the appliances, and the company suggested Samsung was to blame.
“Unlike washing machines from other companies, a certain company’s washing-machine model was particularly weak on the hinges,” an LG spokeswoman said at the time.
The next day, however, Samsung says it reviewed footage from another store showing three more Crystal Blue washing-machine doors being vandalized—and this group included Mr. Jo, Samsung said.
That’s when things got ugly.
Samsung reported the incident to Korean prosecutors, and said it would “airlift” the appliances back to Seoul as evidence. In a statement at the time, Samsung said “the company in question has tarnished not only Samsung’s brand image but also the reputation of Samsung employees by making slanderous claims that our washing machines were defective.”
Samsung originally said it would be inappropriate to comment for this article given the investigation. After online publication, the company said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that an LG president and other executives “deliberately destroyed Samsung washing machines and made slanderous claims about the quality of our products.”
LG, for its part, complains that it hasn’t been given access to the appliances for months and questioned the reliability of Samsung’s video footage, saying that it was shot from a hallway outside the store and was far too grainy to identify any people. LG doesn’t dispute Mr. Jo was in the store examining the machines, but says it is normal in the industry to check out the competition during trade shows.
In December, LG filed its countersuit as a bid to gain access to the washing machines, a spokesman said. “They have full control of the evidence.”
LG says it hasn’t been bothered by all the dirty laundry that has emerged. In November, LG combined Mr. Jo’s home appliance division with the company’s air-conditioning business.
As part of the reshuffle, Mr. Jo won a promotion. He will be the new head of the enlarged division.