Seoul (AFP) - South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday that its third-quarter operating profit fell 31.39 percent year-on-year, after the global economic slowdown weighed on consumer electronics.

Revenue in Samsung's crucial memory chip business declined, the company said in a statement, adding that "consumer demand remains weak."

Operating profit for the July-September 2022 period fell to 10 trillion won ($7 billion), compared to 15.8 trillion won in the same period last year.

The results came the same day the company announced the promotion of the company's de facto chairman, Lee Jae-yong, who was granted a presidential pardon in August over a fraud conviction, to chairman of Samsung Electronics.

"Our survival depends on future technology," Lee said in a message posted on a company platform after his promotion, according to Yonhap news agency. "We can turn this crisis into an opportunity."

The quarterly results mark the first year-on-year profit decline in nearly three years for Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker.

But the company said it reported a 3.79 percent increase in sales over the same period last year, at 76 trillion won.

The world's largest manufacturer of memory chips is the main subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, the largest family-owned conglomerate that dominates business in South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The conglomerate is central to the strength of South Korea's economy, with gross sales equaling one-fifth of the national gross domestic product.