Samsung Merging Its Two Main U.S. Subsidiaries

Samsung confirmed on Wednesday that it is bringing together its two main U.S. operations, merging the unit responsible for mobile phones with the one that handles other types of electronics. Starting in January, Samsung Electronics America and Samsung Telecommunications America will operate together as Samsung Electronics America.

The move comes as Samsung looks to reverse a decline in the once soaring fortunes of its smartphone business, which weighed on its most recent earnings report. Samsung’s share of the global smartphone market fell to 24.7 percent in the third quarter from 35 percent in the year prior, according to Strategy Analytics.

Though combining these two sales subsidiaries might limit some bureaucracy, it won’t mean much to the average consumer. The move comes as part of Samsung’s annual executive shuffle, which this year left the company’s top executives in place but saw some changes to the next tier of leadership in Korea.

Samsung has also said it will narrow its smartphone product line in an effort to improve the unit’s profitability.

As for the U.S., Tim Baxter has been named president and COO of the new, integrated Samsung Electronics America, while Gregory Lee will remain as president and CEO of the company’s North American operations.

A Samsung representative declined comment on whether any shifts in executive responsibility were included in the changes.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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