MegaStudy Education "In Negotiations for Contract Renewal with Hyun Woo-jin, Voluntary Disclosure Planned if Successful"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] It has been confirmed that Megastudy Education, the number one online education company, is currently in the process of renewing its contract with its star instructor Hyun Woo-jin. The renewal is at an imminent stage, and once finalized, a voluntary disclosure will be made.
According to Megastudy Education and related industries on the 4th, Megastudy Education and star instructor Hyun Woo-jin are currently negotiating contract renewal. A Megastudy Education official stated, "It is true that we are sitting at the negotiation table discussing, and we are expecting a positive outcome."
Hyun Woo-jin, a CSAT mathematics instructor, joined Megastudy in 2014 and is regarded as a figure who has firmly established Megastudy as the undisputed industry leader. He is a "star instructor" boasting overwhelming enrollment rates in mathematics among all internet lecture brands. According to a survey conducted by the public opinion research agency Korea Research and Megastudy Education targeting paid internet lecture users (survey period from March 8 to April 8, with a total of 2,033 respondents), 73.5% of 2023 examinees taking mathematics courses primarily attended Hyun Woo-jin's lectures. This is six times higher than the second-ranked instructor. His annual salary is known to exceed 20 billion KRW, and more than one million copies of textbooks he personally produced are sold each year. Consequently, when Hyun hinted at retirement in June, Megastudy Education's stock price plummeted. On June 10, Megastudy Education's stock closed at 90,700 KRW, down 7.35% from the previous day. During trading on June 10, it even dropped to the 9% range. This was due to his retirement hint during a live broadcast, suggesting a low likelihood of contract renewal. It is interpreted that the stock price fell as forecasts emerged that if Hyun retired, the number of Megastudy students would decrease, worsening the company's performance.
In response, the Korea Exchange reportedly advised Megastudy Education that it would be preferable to make a voluntary disclosure if a contract renewal with Hyun Woo-jin is made in the future. A Megastudy Education official said, "If the contract renewal is successful and approved by the exchange, we plan to make a voluntary disclosure," adding, "Since the current contract runs until the end of the year, the exact timing of the renewal cannot be specified." However, considering the schedule for launching new products, there is a high possibility that a voluntary disclosure regarding the renewal will be made in October or November.
Industry insiders believe that the contract renewal is highly likely. Given Hyun's high market value, the lack of suitable alternatives, and the fact that he is in his prime, it is considered premature to discuss retirement. In the investment banking (IB) sector, there is a strong view that the contract renewal will proceed smoothly following the failed sale of Megastudy Education. Last month, negotiations for the management rights sale between Megastudy Education and private equity fund (PEF) operator MBK Partners were ultimately broken off. MBK Partners had offered twice the market price for the management rights shares, but criticism arose that minority shareholders were excluded during the sale process, and Son Sung-eun, the CEO of Megastudy Education who was initially opposed to the sale, reportedly maintained a stance against it. An IB industry official hinted, "There was a possibility of complications in the contract renewal process during the private equity sale, but now that the sale has failed, an environment has been created for the contract renewal to proceed smoothly again."
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