However, the figure marks a 30.24 percent rise from the third quarter last year.
Market watchers attributed the increase largely to the robust performance of the company's semiconductor division.
The semiconductor unit posted 2.70 trillion won in operating profit in the October-December period, the quarterly highest in four years.
The IT-mobile division logged an operating profit of 1.96 trillion won, up 12 percent from the previous quarter. Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker by sales volume.
Samsung's operating profit dropped by 31.97 percent to 25.03 trillion won on-year in 2014, the lowest since 2011.
In a regulatory filing, the company said its sales also declined by 11.04 percent to 52.73 trillion won in the fourth quarter from a year ago. It, however, marks a 11.13 percent increase from the previous quarter.
Samsung saw its sales slide by 9.83 percent to 206.21 trillion won on-year in 2014.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
