LG Electronics who saw a 21% fall in revenues in the last financial year in Australia has seen parent Company report its highest quarterly operating profit in two years with the capture and sale of data on consumers to third parties contributing millions in profits.

Between April-June profit at the Company who is using their WebOS and ThinQ software to capture data more than doubled profits from a year earlier to US $521 million).

LG’s We Are Watching You Technology

The business that this week acquired Athom the developer of the Homey home automation system has expanded their data capture operations to 22 products recently with many consumers failing to realise how much data LG Electronics is capturing on their private lives and then selling it to third parties.

The business admits that their consumer to business model is defying the downturn due to their new data capture business models and subscription services.
“The subscription business currently spans 22 products, reducing initial purchase burdens and combining service solutions for continued revenue” the business said in announcing their latest financials.

New business models such as subscription services leverage LG’s vast product portfolio as platforms to offer content and services globally.

LG said it expects July-September operating profit to be higher.

Operating profit for the appliances division jumped 49 percent from a year earlier to a quarterly record of $47M.

LG’s TV division swung to a profit of $26M also a quarterly record, boosted by sales of TV’s.

LG Display is still facing declining sales of panels.

“LG is accelerating its shift towards a customer relationship-centred business and the recent acquisition of smart home platform company Athom marks a push towards personalisation and service-oriented approaches in the home appliance business” the Company said.

In other words, data capture and the sale to brands and third parties of confidential consumer data is now a highly profitable business for the Company with the South Korean business does not having to invest in a new product but instead uses their existing products which are being upgraded with new software to capture the data they then sell.

Last year the business generated over a billion dollars in this division.