San Francisco, Mar 23 (IANS): Samsung's Chief Marketing Officer Marc Mathieu has abruptly resigned after the tech major launched an investigation into kickbacks between its employees and marketing partners.

"Samsung Electronics Co. audited its US marketing operation to investigate whether employees violated company policies in their dealings with business partners, resulting in layoffs of several staffers," The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The layoffs and the internal probe came amid broader changes at the company, including the recent departure of the top US marketing executives and other senior executives outside the marketing group, the report added.

Notably, Mathieu was instrumental in pushing Samsung to invest in the YouTube creator community and steered the company through several difficult periods, including the disastrous Galaxy Note 7's recall in 2016.

He also helped launch the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus -- the devices phones that lived up to the expectations to restore the company's dented reputation -- the following year .

The report noted that marketing employees often accompany partners to sponsored entertainment events such as the Super Bowl or Oscars and that such behaviour can pose a conflict of interest.