Samsung has been deeply affected by the Galaxy Note 7 explosion recently and had to announce a global recall, causing its stock price to plummet. Affected by the recall incident, Samsung announced on Sunday that it would sell shares in four technology companies to withdraw more than one billion US dollars in funds.

These four companies include Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML, panel supplier Sharp, US storage media manufacturer Seagate, and memory system supplier Rambus. Samsung reduced its holdings of ASML shares by half to 1.5%, and sold 0.7% of Sharp, 4.2% of Seagate, and 4.5% of Rambus shares.

Japanese media reported that Samsung Electronics holds 35.8 million Sharp shares, equivalent to 0.7% of the shares. Calculated based on the closing price of 128 yen on the afternoon of September 14, the value of the shares held by Samsung is approximately 4.6 billion yen (equivalent to approximately 45 million U.S. dollars).

However, Sharp's stock represents only a small portion of the value of the shares sold.

In addition to Sharp's shares, Samsung will also hold half of the Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML's shares and all 42% of the hard disk manufacturer Seagate's shares. Based on ASML’s closing price of US$36.40 on the afternoon of September 16th local time in the United States and a total share capital of 299 million, the 4.2% stake sold by Samsung Electronics is equivalent to approximately US$457 million. Rambus's closing price on the afternoon of September 16th local time in the United States was US$13.03. Based on a total share capital of 110 million, a 4.5% stake is approximately US$60 million. In addition, Samsung Electronics also sold its printer business to HP for US$1.05 billion on September 12.

Although Samsung emphasized that the sale of shares will be used to invest in core businesses, it also stated that its relationship with these companies will not be affected. However, because Samsung’s recent series of sales happened just after the Note 7 explosion, it is also considered to be obtaining more funds to deal with the explosion.

Analysts say the financial burden caused by the Note 7 recall is estimated to be around $1 billion. Raising these funds will help address the costs of the recall.

Before the Note 7 recall, Samsung was making great strides in the U.S. market with its two flagship models, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. According to data from market consulting firm Counterpoint Reserach, in the first quarter of this year, Samsung’s share of the U.S. smartphone market was 28.8%, far exceeding Apple’s 23% market share. The second-quarter financial report was also quite satisfactory, exceeding analysts' expectations by US$5.1 billion.

According to previous plans, Samsung hopes that the Galaxy Note 7 mobile phone will compete with the upcoming Apple iPhone 7 mobile phone. However, the development of things was full of drama. The explosion of Note 7 instantly made Samsung lose its qualification to compete. The Chinese market, which had previously claimed that the product would have no problems, also had its "first explosion" yesterday. Consumer confidence in Sanzhou mobile phones has been greatly reduced, and some consumers have turned to other high-end mobile phone models such as iPhone. Affected by this, Samsung's stock price has plummeted continuously, and its market value has evaporated by more than 20 billion US dollars.