Samsung Elec fourth-quarter profit jumps as record chip profit masks Note 7 failure

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Tuesday said fourth-quarter operating profit jumped 50 percent, matching its earlier guidance, as record earnings in its chips business masked the negative impact of its failed Note 7 phones.

The world's biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips said October-December operating profit was 9.22 trillion won ($7.93 billion), compared with prior guidance of 9.2 trillion won.

Revenue remained flat at 53.3 trillion won from the same period a year earlier, versus its estimate of 53 trillion won.

Samsung also said it plans to buy back 9.3 trillion won worth of shares this year.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Stephen Coates)