NewJeans Points Out Unfair Treatment
Conflict Between Bang Si-hyuk and Min Hee-jin
Amid the clash between HYBE and its subsidiary ADOR over allegations of 'attempted takeover of management rights' and 'copying NewJeans,' ADOR's management is reported to have drafted an expos? document titled "HYBE's Sin." This was an attempt to pressure HYBE into selling its shares in ADOR by putting the parent company in a difficult position. The revelation of a document disparaging the parent company has led to concerns that the conflict between the two sides is deteriorating into a fierce struggle.
According to industry sources on the 24th, ADOR's Vice President A acquired HYBE-related trade secrets without authorization and used them to create an external expos? document. This was uncovered during an audit of HYBE. A, a former certified public accountant, worked in HYBE's finance department handling IR (investor relations) and HYBE's listing tasks before moving to ADOR.
The title of one document he wrote is reported to be "HYBE's Sin." The document reportedly includes issues such as Aileit's 'copying of NewJeans,' as well as allegations of unfair treatment of NewJeans related to advertising and branding.
HYBE views A's actions as an attempt to pressure HYBE based on the contents of the document. HYBE is uncomfortable with the internal whistleblowing being exposed externally and believes A aimed to have HYBE accept their demands and ultimately force HYBE to sell its shares in ADOR to outside investors. Currently, ADOR's shares are composed of HYBE holding 80%, ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin holding 18%, and the remaining 2% held by ADOR management.
HYBE's position is that if A genuinely aimed to improve internal issues, he should have raised concerns with internal control bodies such as the board of directors or the audit committee and awaited institutional improvements.
Hive is initiating an audit of the management of Adore, a subsidiary to which the group NewJeans belongs, leading to conflicts. The photo shows the Hive headquarters in Yongsan. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@
ADOR is also reported to have created separate IR materials and held consecutive meetings with investment banking (IB) industry officials. Another document titled "Agenda," reportedly written by A, included an item summarizing "Plan 1 and Plan 2 for attracting external investors," with a section titled "How will G and P survive?" and named internal personnel. The industry interprets G as the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and P as the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF.
ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has rebutted, stating that the core issue is the "Aileit's NewJeans copy incident." ADOR issued an official statement the previous day saying, "They are trying to dismiss me because I raised the issue of Aileit's copying of NewJeans." Min strongly denied HYBE's claim that the cause of the audit was an "attempted takeover of management rights," calling it "absurd."
HYBE CEO Park Ji-won stated, "This is a clear case of an attempted company takeover," and added, "If the facts are further clarified through the audit, the company will take clear action against responsible parties."
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