Loss-Leader LG Display Turns into Cash Cow

LG Display, a loss-maker from 2010 to 2012, has emerged as the conglomerate's new cash cow thanks to diversifying sales to TV and smartphone manufacturers.

LG Display rose to the top spot in the global ultra high-definition TV panel market for the first time in October and began supplying displays for Apple's latest iPhone as well, which has translated into surging profits.

It posted W6.5 trillion (US$1=W1,114) in sales in the third quarter and an operating profit of W474.1 billion -- a bigger profit than LG Electronics and LG Chem.

The stellar profits were achieved by lowering its dependence on sales within the LG group and seeking out new clients abroad.

LG Display's accumulated losses from 2010 to 2012 totaled W1.4 trillion, making it something of a drag on the conglomerate's finances. The company built a new factory in Paju north of Seoul and drastically boosted output, but slow smartphone and TV sales at LG Electronics, which then accounted for 40 to 50 percent of LG Display's business, had a huge impact on the bottom line.

It built an LCD plant in Guangzhou in September to cut costs and offer cheaper products. The panels produced there are supplied to local TV manufacturers Skyworth and Changhong.

Another major client is Apple. LG Display teamed up with Apple from the development stage, and the result of the cooperation is the high-resolution retina display that goes into iPhones.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is also an important client.

All this has helped LG Display’s sales dependence on other LG affiliates drop to around 30 percent.

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Ringo Starr puts his life on display in Grammy Museum exhibit

By John Russell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, "Ringo: Peace & Love," which opened on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

Starr, 72, was on hand at the exhibit, which offers an in-depth look at his career as he rose to fame with The Beatles.

Highlights include Starr's Ludwig drum kit, used during The Beatles' appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and the outfit he wore during the era of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, between 1966 and 1967.

Starr took Reuters on a tour of the exhibit, which will be open until March 2014, pointing out memorabilia from the height of "Beatlemania," beginning with the band's August 1965 performance at New York's Shea Stadium, which was attended by 55,600 people.

"After Shea, and Shea was the biggest audience, that was the first time anyone played a stadium and that we were like, 'wow,' Starr said. "People were talking about people screaming, but that is how it was. We got up, people screamed, we ended and they went home."

The Beatles, was formed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Starr in Liverpool in the 1960s.

McCartney and Starr are the only surviving members, after Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 and Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001.

Nearly 50 years after The Beatles first arrived in the United States, Starr said he keeps busy and is working on adapting the Beatles' song "Octopus's Garden" into a children's picture book.

He is also releasing an e-book titled "Photograph" exclusively on Apple's iBookstore on Wednesday, which will lift the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the Fab Four from his personal collection.

(Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here

Ringo Starr puts his life on display in Grammy Museum exhibit

By John Russell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, "Ringo: Peace & Love," which opened on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

Starr, 72, was on hand at the exhibit, which offers an in-depth look at his career as he rose to fame with The Beatles.

Highlights include Starr's Ludwig drum kit, used during The Beatles' appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and the outfit he wore during the era of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, between 1966 and 1967.

Starr took Reuters on a tour of the exhibit, which will be open until March 2014, pointing out memorabilia from the height of "Beatlemania," beginning with the band's August 1965 performance at New York's Shea Stadium, which was attended by 55,600 people.

"After Shea, and Shea was the biggest audience, that was the first time anyone played a stadium and that we were like, 'wow,' Starr said. "People were talking about people screaming, but that is how it was. We got up, people screamed, we ended and they went home."

The Beatles, was formed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Starr in Liverpool in the 1960s.

McCartney and Starr are the only surviving members, after Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 and Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001.

Nearly 50 years after The Beatles first arrived in the United States, Starr said he keeps busy and is working on adapting the Beatles' song "Octopus's Garden" into a children's picture book.

He is also releasing an e-book titled "Photograph" exclusively on Apple's iBookstore on Wednesday, which will lift the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the Fab Four from his personal collection.

(Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here

Ringo Starr puts his life on display in Grammy Museum exhibit

By John Russell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, "Ringo: Peace & Love," which opened on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

Starr, 72, was on hand at the exhibit, which offers an in-depth look at his career as he rose to fame with The Beatles.

Highlights include Starr's Ludwig drum kit, used during The Beatles' appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and the outfit he wore during the era of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, between 1966 and 1967.

Starr took Reuters on a tour of the exhibit, which will be open until March 2014, pointing out memorabilia from the height of "Beatlemania," beginning with the band's August 1965 performance at New York's Shea Stadium, which was attended by 55,600 people.

"After Shea, and Shea was the biggest audience, that was the first time anyone played a stadium and that we were like, 'wow,' Starr said. "People were talking about people screaming, but that is how it was. We got up, people screamed, we ended and they went home."

The Beatles, was formed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Starr in Liverpool in the 1960s.

McCartney and Starr are the only surviving members, after Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 and Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001.

Nearly 50 years after The Beatles first arrived in the United States, Starr said he keeps busy and is working on adapting the Beatles' song "Octopus's Garden" into a children's picture book.

He is also releasing an e-book titled "Photograph" exclusively on Apple's iBookstore on Wednesday, which will lift the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the Fab Four from his personal collection.

(Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Christopher Wilson)

View the original article here