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| yna@yna.co.kr 2024-05-02 10:20:20
SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Min Hee-jin, the representative of ADOR, who continues to engage in extreme confrontation with Hybe, continued to refute the controversy that has arisen, stating that "the accusation of seizing management rights is a baseless claim."
ADOR, management of girl group NewJeans, is one of the sublabels of K-pop behemoth Hybe. Min has been at the helm of ADOR since the firm's foundation in 2021.
On the morning of the 2nd, Min's legal associates released a lengthy statement refuting Hybe's claims regarding a handful of issues, including ▲ allegations of management rights seizure ▲ internal whistleblowing and audit process ▲ Hybe's promise to debut the first girl group ▲ suspicions that NewJeans' promotion was prohibited at debut ▲ denial of slave contracts ▲ controversies related to shareholder agreements ▲ controversies over acquaintances with shamans.
The Min's legal representatives stated, "The documents presented by Hybe as evidence were nothing more than 'imaginations' that emerged amid ongoing conflicts with Hybe and were not intended for the purpose of seizing management rights." They repeated their denial, saying, "There were no specific plans or executions related to it."
In particular, they pointed out the fact that A, the vice president of ADOR, who wrote the problematic document, was excluded from the defendants and claimed, "Hybe's management actively urged cooperation through remarks such as 'if you get implicated, as a practitioner, you should ask how to bear the damages,' and 'think of your family.'" They also asserted, "A was psychologically pressured to sign the consent form for providing information," and "the next day, A's KakaoTalk messages were exposed to the media. This is a serious invasion of privacy and a violation of human rights."
Furthermore, they questioned the announcement of interim audit results by Hybe, asking, "Is it proper for a listed company to publicly broadcast audit contents that should be handled discreetly and even edit unconfirmed contents as if it were a live broadcast?"
Min's legal associates also presented the ADOR CEO's official position on the recently controversial shareholder agreement.
They said, "It is not denying the necessity of the non-compete clause itself," but argued, "The subject business and period of the non-compete clause must be reasonable, but the current shareholder agreement is not."
Hybe previously claimed, "There were differences in the interpretation of the sales-related provisions in the contract, and we will resolve ambiguous provisions." However, Min countered, "The content is not ambiguous to any legal expert. Representative Min has the obligation to continue the non-compete obligation until Hybe agrees to dispose of all shares. Only in mid-March this year could we receive a proposal for revision."
In particular, regarding the claim that "30 times the multiple" was demanded upon exercising the put options, Min's side stated, "It reflects the value of future boy group productions," and clarified, "It was one of the proposals during the negotiation process to change the shareholder agreement, which had various unreasonable elements, and it was not even a priority item in the negotiation."
According to Min's attorneys, Hybe promised to allocate an additional 10% stake to ADOR as stock options in March last year, but according to legal advice, it was impossible to grant it to Min as a major shareholder under the Commercial Act. Because of this, Min suspects that Hybe deceived her.
Min's legal representatives said, "Hybe proposed that non-compete obligations be divided into stages to be exercised over the period of eight years of mandatory service and one year after retirement," and asserted, "The negotiations were underway when the ILLIT controversy erupted, leading to the current situation. It is not true that Representative Min expressed a refusal to Hybe's proposal or conveyed her position on it."
They also stated, "We will spare no effort to support NewJeans' activities," demanding, "Hybe should stop making unconvincing black propaganda and show a reasonable attitude to support ADOR so that ADOR can focus entirely on creation."
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]