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By Bloomberg

Samsung Electronics Co. may increase its full-year dividend by as much as 50 percent as the world’s biggest maker of smartphones boosts returns to shareholders amid a slump in earnings.

The company is considering an increase in the payout of 30 percent to 50 percent with a final decision to be made by the board at the end of January, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a filing today. Samsung paid out 14,300 won ($13) per share in dividends last year.

The dividend announcement comes less than a month after the electronics maker said it will buy back 2.19 trillion won ($2 billion) of stock as the Lee family that controls Samsung Group restructures South Korea’s biggest conglomerate. Net income at Samsung Electronics dropped 49 percent in the September quarter as its phones struggle from competition with Apple Inc. and cheaper Chinese producers.

“Samsung had to respond to shareholders’ outcry for higher dividend in any way amid fast deteriorating profit and its massive cash pile,” Kim Ji Woong, a Seoul-based analyst at E*Trade Korea Co., said by telephone. “The shares will continue to march higher at least from the current levels in the wake of today’s announcement.”

Cash Pile

Samsung had about 67 trillion won of cash and equivalents at the end of September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Samsung Group is making changes across the more than 70 companies that comprise the chaebol as the Lee family tries to boost earnings. Vice Chairman Lee Jae Yong is overseeing changes as he takes a greater role at the conglomerate since his father, Lee Kun Hee, was hospitalized in May.

Electronics is the biggest part of Samsung Group, generating more than two-thirds of revenue. The company wants to reduce its reliance on Galaxy devices through reinvention as a purveyor of Internet-connected homes and cars.

While Samsung remains the world’s largest smartphone vendor, its grip is slipping. The company’s market share dropped to 24.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with 35 percent a year earlier, according to Strategy Analytics. Xiaomi displaced Samsung as the biggest smartphone vendor in China in the second quarter, according to researcher Canalys.