Lee Byung-Chul founded Samsung in 1938. He started as a small trading company with forty employees, based in Seoul. The company did very well until the communist invasion in 1950, but the invasion caused a lot of property damage. Lee Byung-Chul was forced out and started again in 1951 in Suwon. In a single year, the company's assets increased twentyfold.
In 1953, Lee created a sugar refinery—South Korea's first manufacturing plant since the end of the Korean War. "The company thrived under Lee's philosophy of making Samsung a leader in every industry it entered" (Saumsung Electronics). The company began to move into service industries such as insurance, securities and department stores. In the early 70s, Lee borrowed money from foreign firms and started the mass communications industry by establishing the first radio and television station (Samsung Electronics).
