Facebook’s Zuckerberg meets Samsung to discuss partnerships

SEOUL, South Korea — Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, seeking to boost advertising sales from mobile devices, discussed potential partnerships with Samsung Electronics Co., according to the head of the South Korean company’s handset division.

Zuckerberg and Samsung President Shin Jong Kyun also discussed the state of the information-technology industry, Shin said outside the company’s Seoul offices. Zuckerberg left the building without answering questions.

The Facebook founder has pledged to invest in products that will reward investors disappointed by the 37 percent slump in shares since the Menlo Park, California-based company’s initial public offering in May 2012. Facebook, owner of the world’s most popular social-networking site, is trying to get users to spend more time on its mobile services, while Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones.

Zuckerberg in April unveiled Home, software for smartphones that makes it easier to access social-networking features such as friends’ photos, messages and status updates on a device’s home screen. Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of smartphones, and Taiwan’s HTC Corp. were the first makers to feature the application on handsets that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

Facebook doesn’t have any comment on Zuckerberg’s trip, said Seikyu Hong, who represents the company in Seoul.

Earlier today, Zuckerberg met with South Korea President Park Geun Hye for 30 minutes and discussed ways to promote technology startups, according to a statement on her website. Zuckerberg told Park he plans to invest more in Asia’s fourth- biggest economy and use his company as a platform for startups, according to the statement.

Park met Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates on April 22 and Google CEO Larry Page on April 26 in South Korea.

Facebook rose 2.4 percent to $24.59 at 10:41 a.m. in New York. The stock had declined 9.8 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 15 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.