Samsung's profit sinks to 8-year low on slowing demand

Samsung Electronics supplied a first look at the company's quarterly earnings report Friday.

The company says quarterly profit tumbled by two-thirds to an eight-year low.

A weakening global economy has impacted memory chip prices and curbed demand for electronic devices.

The report may be a harbinger of things to come, setting the tone for other tech firm's results.

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Samsung is the world's largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker.

Analysts expect Samsung's profit to take another hit in the current quarter after the South Korean company announced its October-December operating profit likely fell 69% to 4.3 trillion won ($3.37 billion) from 13.87 trillion won a year earlier.

It was Samsung's smallest quarterly profit since the third quarter of 2014 and fell short of a 5.9 trillion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate.

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Quarterly revenue likely fell 9% from the same period a year earlier, according to the preliminary earnings statement issued by the company.

Its mobile business' profit declined in the fourth quarter as smartphone sales and revenue decreased due to weak demand resulting from prolonged macroeconomic issues, Samsung added.

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Three analysts said they expected Samsung's profits to dive again in the current quarter, with a likely operating loss for the chips business as a glut drives a further drop in memory chip prices.

The company will release full results later this month.

Reuters contributed to this report.