Koo Young-bae Loses Control of Qoo10 Group... Will Subsidiaries Take the Path of 'Each Survives on Their Own'?

Autonomous Restructuring Support Program Launched
Subsidiary Qxpress Also Faces 'Cut Loss' Crisis

The unpaid settlement crisis at TMON and WEMAKEPRICE has significantly weakened the control of Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10, over his affiliates. Each affiliate appears to be seeking ways to survive independently, breaking away from the influence of CEO Koo and Qoo10.

According to industry sources on the 4th, Interpark Commerce recently sent a certified letter to Qoo10 to recover outstanding payments. This company was acquired by Qoo10 in March last year and operates Interpark Shopping, books, and AK Mall. The amount Interpark Commerce is owed by Qoo10, Qoo10 Technology, and Cube Network is known to be around 65 billion KRW, including unpaid sales proceeds and loans. Kim Dong-sik, CEO of Interpark Commerce, stated, "We will initiate independent management by pursuing a separate sale process."

Ryu Kwang-jin, CEO of TMON, is attending a hearing held at the Seoul Rehabilitation Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 2nd. The court plans to review the reasons for the rehabilitation applications of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, their debt status, and funding plans. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

TMON, which has decided to activate a voluntary restructuring support program, has also started discussions with major investors for investment attraction and sale. WEMAKEPRICE CEO Ryu Hwa-hyun is individually pursuing a sale. All of Qoo10’s domestic e-commerce subsidiaries are thus seeking their own paths to survival. This seems related to CEO Koo’s inability to present any concrete countermeasures regarding the current crisis. CEO Koo, who controls the finances and development of each subsidiary through Qoo10 Technology and is considered responsible for causing this crisis, reportedly has not properly shared the specific scale of damages or recovery plans with the CEOs of each company. The public platform transition plan CEO Koo mentioned, where sellers become major shareholders after the merger of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, is also far from the self-help plans of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE.

CEO Koo’s control is also collapsing in Qoo10’s overseas subsidiaries. Qxpress, Qoo10’s core Singapore-based global logistics subsidiary, appointed Mark Lee, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), as the new CEO on the 26th of last month after CEO Koo stepped down. This move is known to have been led by Qxpress’s financial investors (FIs). It is expected that the main FIs will exercise convertible bond rights to secure shares and become the largest shareholders.