Recommendation Start and Voluntary Retirement, Qoo10 Affiliates Urgently Seeking Survival... Koo Young-bae Says "Business Normalization"

Restructuring of Qoo10 Affiliates Including Interpark Commerce
Timf to Submit Self-Rescue Plan to Court on 12th
Despite Group Dissolution Steps... Koo Young-bae "Will Merge Timf"

Tmon, Wemakeprice, Interpark Commerce, and other Qoo10 affiliates are undergoing a wave of restructuring. Although each affiliate has effectively chosen to fend for itself in what amounts to a group dismantling process, Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10, has proposed a merger plan for the affiliates.

According to industry sources on the 12th, Qoo10 Technology, which has served as the control tower for Qoo10's domestic e-commerce affiliates, will conduct recommended layoffs on the 14th. Qoo10 Technology announced the restructuring on the 7th and completed a survey of intentions among all employees.

Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10 Group, is attending an emergency inquiry related to the 'Timon and Wemakeprice settlement and refund delay incident' held at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 30th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Due to deteriorating financial conditions making it difficult to pay severance, it is understood that the company is proceeding with workforce reduction in the form of recommended layoffs, allowing employees to receive unemployment benefits.

Interpark Commerce accepted voluntary retirement applications until the 11th. Applicants are guaranteed their August salary and will be given paid leave until the end of this month. It is reported that about 200 employees remain at Interpark Commerce. Those who did not apply for voluntary retirement will be subject to workforce reallocation. Acquired by Qoo10 in March last year, Interpark Commerce operates Interpark Shopping, Interpark Books, and AK Mall. AK Mall employees are also subject to voluntary and recommended retirement. The company recently declared its intention to operate independently from Qoo10 and has been exploring self-help measures such as sale and funding.

Tmon and Wemakeprice, which triggered a large-scale unpaid settlement crisis among Qoo10 affiliates, plan to submit self-help plans to the court on the 12th, including new investment attraction plans, M&A promotion, restructuring, and standalone sale options. On the 13th, a rehabilitation procedure consultation meeting involving government-related agencies and creditors is expected to be held for the first time to explain the self-help plans. Tmon and Wemakeprice applied for corporate rehabilitation procedures at the court on the 29th of last month, and the next day, all claims and debts were frozen under the court's preservation order and comprehensive injunction. Subsequently, with court approval, they entered the Autonomous Restructuring Support (ARS) program. Although they initially planned to submit the self-help plans last week, difficulties in finding buyers and investors appear to have delayed the preparation of the plans.

While each Qoo10 affiliate is seeking its own survival path, CEO Koo has presented a completely different calculation. On the 8th, he applied to establish a new corporation named 'KCCW' as a platform for merging Tmon and Wemakeprice, initially investing 999,999,900 KRW of personal funds as capital. He explained, "The capital was set just under 1 billion KRW to avoid additional requirements that come with 1 billion KRW or more." Under commercial law, small companies with capital under 1 billion KRW benefit from simplified shareholder meeting procedures and other advantages.

Based on KCCW, he aims to expand it into a global commerce platform encompassing Qoo10's Asian market, Wish's U.S. and European markets, and Shopclues' Indian market. Since the 9th, KCCW has started accepting letters of intent from Tmon and Wemakeprice sellers to convert unpaid balances into convertible bonds (CB). They plan to recruit sellers until the end of this month, form the first shareholder association, and then request merger approval from the court.

He asserted, "It is difficult to recover damages through the sale of Tmon or Wemakeprice. Through the merger, we must boldly reduce costs and restructure the business to focus on profitability to quickly normalize operations."