“Samsung is expected to execute planned investments in facilities, but new M&A investments are unlikely to be made for a while in the absence of the vice chairman,” said Park Ju-gun, head of market researcher CEO Score.

In the M&A market, companies need both short-term and long-term plans, according to Park. “The group would have set a mid- and long-term plan for its future growth and look for possible candidates for about three years,” he said. “But it has no chief to make a final decision. Samsung might have considered buying Toshiba’s chipmaking unit if otherwise.”

Samsung Electronics, the biggest among 16 affiliates, is forecast to make at least 14 trillion won in the semiconductor unit alone this year. However, the electronics unit has said it hasn’t finalized its annual investment plan for 2017.

Lee, who on Thursday attended his second hearing to determine whether he and other Samsung officials asked for favors from former President Park Geun-hye in exchange for money given to her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and her family, also lost his board membership at Exor, the holding company of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

On April 5, Exor Chairman John Elkann thanked Lee and other board members whose membership recently come to an end without elaborating on why the positions were not renewed.

Meanwhile, the very last round of the Samsung recruitment examination was held on Sunday.

Job seekers, including university graduates, took the Global Samsung Aptitude Test at some 10 locations in Seoul.

“We customarily do not disclose the number of applicants,” said a spokeswoman at Samsung Electronics.

On Feb. 28, the day the Samsung heir was indicted by the prosecution, Samsung disbanded the future strategy office, which had served as its control tower, and scrapped all group-level operations. With the announcement, Samsung said it will run the recruitment system for the last time this year in order to not cause confusion for job seekers.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)