Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Ador (currently CEO of OK Records), has achieved a complete victory in her lawsuit against HYBE regarding a put option worth 26 billion won. The court rejected HYBE's claim of contract termination and ruled in favor of former CEO Min.
On the morning of the 12th, the 31st Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Nam In-soo) dismissed the lawsuit filed by HYBE to confirm the termination of the shareholder agreement and accepted the lawsuit for the payment of the share purchase price filed by former CEO Min. The court ruled that former CEO Min's exercise of the put option was legally justified.
As a result of this ruling, HYBE is required to pay former CEO Min approximately 25.5 billion won for the share purchase. Additionally, the court ordered HYBE to bear all legal costs incurred during this dispute. This is interpreted as a unilateral victory for former CEO Min.
The court did not recognize the grounds for contract termination due to 'breach of trust' claimed by HYBE. HYBE argued that the contract with former CEO Min had already been terminated, thus extinguishing the put option rights, but the court concluded that former CEO Min's claims were valid and reaffirmed the effectiveness of the shareholder agreement.
With this victory, former CEO Min has secured a substantial amount of hundreds of billions of won and has gained a favorable position in the ongoing conflict with HYBE. The industry is closely watching whether HYBE, which suffered a complete defeat in the first trial, will immediately appeal.
