Min Hee-jin asked Naver, Dunamu to buy ADOR shares, HYBE says

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin approached high-ranking officials at Naver and Dunamu with the intent to persuade them to buy ADOR shares held by HYBE, the parent conglomerate claimed during a hearing on Friday.

HYBE's headquarters in Yongsan District, central Seoul [YONHAP]

ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin approached high-ranking officials at Naver and Dunamu with the intent to persuade them to buy ADOR shares held by HYBE, the parent conglomerate claimed during a hearing on Friday.

HYBE provided screen shots of Min's KakaoTalk messages to support the claim. The logs allegedly contained statements such as, “Dunamu’s A [undisclosed employee name] doesn’t even understand what I’m saying,” and “Naver understands a bit better.”

The firms were identified as Company N and D in the testimony, but media outlets have identified them as Naver, Korea’s largest portal company, and Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.

Dunamu is HYBE's third-largest shareholder with a 5.6 percent stake, and Naver is one of the entertainment giant's key business partners.

“ADOR, with the intention of seizing management control, approached key executives at D company, a major shareholder of HYBE, and N company, a major partner, with a detailed plan,” HYBE said.

HYBE also claimed to have secured evidence that Min had asked other ADOR executives to make a list of potential investors.

Min has repetitively denied HYBE’s prior claims regarding the matter, emphasizing that she had “no meetings with any kind of investors with the purpose of usurping management authority.”

Friday's hearing was held to rule on an injunction Min had previously filed seeking to prevent HYBE from exercising its voting rights at ADOR's shareholders' meeting scheduled for May 31.

The meeting’s main agenda item is Min's dismissal from her executive position.

The court hearing was filled amid an intense dispute, with both sides having engaged publicly with the media throughout. Min’s attorney, in arguing for the injunction's approval, claimed that a dismissal would cause “irreparable harm” not only to her, but also to ADOR, the label's girl group NewJeans and HYBE.

Min’s side also emphasized that HYBE's narrative — that Min had sought to alter ADOR's governance structure in order to harm HYBE's interests — had no truth to it.

HYBE’s attorney, on the other hand, argued that the conglomerate had the right, as ADOR's majority shareholder, to remove Min. HYBE reiterated that Min had committed breaches of trust and other breaches of the law by attempting to “permanently seize control” of the label.

Allegations that HYBE had favored Source Music's Le Sserafim over ADOR's NewJeans were also discussed. ADOR accused HYBE of breaking an earlier promise by selecting the former as the first girl group to debut under HYBE and claimed that NewJeans has faced discriminatory treatment from the label despite its early success.

NewJeans was able to succeed “due to the members’ efforts, Min’s exceptional production skills, and her deep rapport with the members,” ADOR asserted.

HYBE fired back, claiming Min had stated that the two groups' debut order did not matter at the time.

“After receiving coaching from a shaman, she decided on NewJeans’ debut period, saying, ‘Let’s let Bang Si-hyuk’s girl groups all fail, and we’ll appear as heroes at the end,'” the company said.

HYBE also blamed Min for “gaslighting” members of NewJeans, alleging that she wants them to remain submissive but has romanticized their relationship as a “mother-daughter bond.”

HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk also called out Min directly for the first time since the agency’s relationship with ADOR unraveled last month, labeling her as a “malicious individual” in a petition filed to the court.

The Seoul Central District Court had not reached a decision as of Friday, briefly commenting that it would ask HYBE and ADOR to file additional data as evidence by next Friday and that a court decision would be reached before May 31.

If the court grants the injunction, HYBE will not be able to immediately dismiss Min; it can either appeal the decision or gather the new evidence required to call for another shareholders’ meeting.

If the injunction is dismissed, HYBE is expected to gain the upper hand in the management dispute.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]