The de facto leader of the country's largest conglomerate was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in a retrial.

Lee was first convicted back in 2017 and handed a five year jail term for bribery and other charges.

He was released after serving just one year when his sentence was reduced and suspended.

Now this latest verdict is lesson Both his earlier sentence as well as the nine years that prosecutors had asked for Lee will serve just 1.5 years as his earlier time in jail will count towards this new sentence.

So over that period there will be a leadership vacuum at Samsung Electron ICS.

But on balance the outcome isn't as bad as feared.

President Moon Jae in has pledged to crack down on the ties between the table South Korea's powerful family, one groups and politicians.

Ah harsher sentence would have sent a powerful message, but the pandemic has hurt the trade and technology dependent country, where the unemployment rate in December hit an 11 year high.

Business lobby groups have even decried Lee's sentence as being too harsh, citing economic uncertainties and Samsung's role in job creation that suggests reforming Korea Inc may be on hold for now.