Samsung's profit sinks to 8-year low on slowing demand

Samsung Electronics supplied a first look at the company's quarterly earnings report Friday.

The company says quarterly profit tumbled by two-thirds to an eight-year low.

A weakening global economy has impacted memory chip prices and curbed demand for electronic devices.

The report may be a harbinger of things to come, setting the tone for other tech firm's results.

Samsung is the world's largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker.

Analysts expect Samsung's profit to take another hit in the current quarter after the South Korean company announced its October-December operating profit likely fell 69% to 4.3 trillion won ($3.37 billion) from 13.87 trillion won a year earlier.