Samsung Electronics said it aims to recover quickly from the disastrous withdrawal of the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 that dragged third-quarter mobile earnings to their lowest level in nearly eight years.

The South Korean giant said it was expanding its probe into the Note 7 fires beyond batteries, as it tried to reassure investors that it would get to the bottom of one of the worst product failures in tech history.

It also held out the prospect of greater returns by disclosing considerations of a share buyback, talked up its semiconductor business and promised to consider proposals for a corporate makeover from US hedge fund Elliott Management.

“We know we must work hard to earn back your trust and we are committed to doing just that,” said Co-Chief Executive JK Shin as he apologised for the debacle at a general meeting in Seoul following the release of the company’s results.

Investors now expect sweeping management changes in response to the Note 7 failure, especially after voting on Thursday to make parent conglomerate Samsung Group’s de facto chief, Jay Y. Lee, a Samsung Electronics director.

Lee, 48, the son of patriarch Lee Kun-hee who has been hospitalised following a heart attack, will now have greater accountability at the group’s flagship company and a clearer mandate to play a public role in setting strategy.

But shareholders may have to wait for the Note 7 investigation to conclude before seeing any heads roll at the family-run conglomerate. Chief Executive Kwon Oh-hyun said the company would assign responsibility only after the crisis was resolved.

The world’s top smartphone maker posted a 96 per cent plunge in third-quarter mobile earnings to 100 billion won ($87.63 million) from a year ago, their lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2008.

The result, the first since the mass recall and subsequent cancellation of the premium Note 7 earlier this month, spared Samsung from its first-ever mobile loss even though overall profit hit a two-year low.

Operating profit was 5.2 trillion won ($4.57 billion), matching Samsung’s revised guidance. The firm initially estimated a 7.8 trillion won profit but cut its guidance to reflect losses incurred in the Note 7 withdrawal.

The scrapping of Samsung’s flagship phone erased 0.1-0.2 percentage points from South Korea’s third-quarter GDP growth in quarterly terms, a finance ministry official told Reuters.

Samsung SDI Co Ltd, which supplied batteries blamed for the first Note 7 recall, separately reported a 110 billion won operating loss for the third quarter.

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