[Exclusive] Gu Young-bae Says "No Legal Responsibility" While Inviting to Become a Shareholder of 'Timeff Merger Company'

Qoo10 Establishes KCCW for Merger with Timf
Koo Young-bae Invests in Qoo10 Shares to Control Qoo10
Application States "Qoo10 Bears No Legal Responsibility"
Victimized Sellers Claim "Responsibility Evasion to Cover Up Suspicions"

Ku Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10, has sparked controversy by presenting the merger of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE (Timep) and persuading affected sellers while explicitly stating that he will not take responsibility in advance. As a solution to the large-scale unpaid settlement issue, the merger plan of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE was proposed, and they began receiving letters of intent for convertible bond (CB) conversion from sellers regarding unpaid amounts, while firmly stating that they will not bear legal responsibility.

According to affected sellers of Timep on the 13th, the platform for the merger, 'KCCW (K-Commerce Center for World),' started accepting letters of intent for CB conversion of unpaid amounts from sellers on the 9th.

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@

The letter of intent guides sellers to “select the applicable participation range if you intend to participate in the conversion of all or part of the unpaid amount into the first CB of the K-Commerce merged corporation KCCW’s seller cooperative.” Sellers can choose from '1~20%' up to '81~100%' in 20% increments.

The problem is that Qoo10 explicitly stated that it will not take any responsibility in the CB conversion process of the unpaid amounts.

In the letter of intent, Qoo10 stated, “Considering the rapidly changing legal environment surrounding Qoo10, the main contents of this document may not be maintained in the future, or parts or all of the plan may need to be changed or modified without prior notice depending on whether stakeholders agree,” and “Qoo10 does not bear legal responsibility for the contents of this business plan or any changes or modifications to it.”

This means that the Timep merger could fail, and even if the merger succeeds, if the business does not resume normally, the CBs are likely to become worthless. Another issue is that all these processes can be unilaterally adjusted without consulting the victims who would become shareholders.

Accordingly, affected sellers are evaluating CEO Ku’s merger plan negatively. The Timep Victims Emergency Response Committee (ERC) issued a statement on the 12th, pointing out that “there is no mention of investment to overcome the current situation or disclosure of the damage amount.”

They added, “The announcement of the establishment of KCCW is a plan with very low feasibility and a responsibility-avoidance plan to cover up numerous suspicions,” emphasizing that “there should be substantial efforts to transparently disclose the scale of damage, detailed fund operations, and overseas corporations and personal assets.”

Timon and Wemakeprice posted a notice on the seller site asking about their willingness to participate in K-Commerce.

CEO Ku appears determined to push forward with the Timep merger. According to the merger plan he proposed, he plans to recruit sellers by the end of this month to form the first shareholder cooperative and then request court approval for the merger. If the merger is approved, the second and third shareholder cooperatives will be formed sequentially. CEO Ku said, “Through the merger, we must boldly reduce costs and restructure the business focusing on profitability to quickly normalize operations.”