Serious Discussion Thread Part 4: HYBE vs. ADOR

[[Herald Economy](https://v.daum.net/v/20240530155401921) = Reporter Park Ji-young]

The court has put a brake on the holding of Ador’s shareholders’ meeting, which was scheduled to be held to dismiss Ador’s CEO Min Hee-jin. **The court said, “Min Hee-jin’s actions may be treacherous against Hybe, but it is difficult to say that it is an act of breach of trust against Ador.”**

On the 30th, **the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Agreement Department 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) decided to cite Min’s lawsuit against Hybe to ban the exercise of voting rights. CEO Min’s request to prevent Hybe from exercising voting rights at the Ador shareholders’ meeting was accepted. It was also added that if this is violated, Hybe will have to pay compensation of 20 billion won to CEO Min.**

Representative Min filed an injunction on the 7th to prevent Hybd, which owns 80% of Ador’s stake, from exercising its voting rights. **Ador is scheduled to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on May 31. The agenda is said to be the dismissal of CEO Min requested by Hybe. Ador’s stake is 80 percent for Hybe, 18 percent for Min Hee-jin, and 2 percent for employees, and if Hybe’s voting rights are restricted, he will not be able to dismiss Min.**

**Representative Min insisted that the exercise of Hybe voting rights should be prevented based on the “shareholder contract” signed with Hybe. According to the contract, Hybe must exercise the voting rights of its holdings at the Ador shareholders’ meeting so that CEO Min can maintain his position as CEO and in-house director for five years from November 2, 2021, unless Min Hee-jin violates ▷ articles of association or laws, ▷ acts that fall under the grounds for dismissal of directors under the Commercial Act, or ▷ contracts are terminated. In other words, it is argued that Hybe has the right to maintain CEO Min’s position under Min Hee-jin-Hybe’s contract.**

**The court accepted Min’s claim. The court said, “Hybe bears a contractual obligation not to exercise voting rights by dismissing Min Hee-jin at the general shareholders’ meeting.” Hybe argued that dismissal was possible as a right of major shareholders, but the court believed that the contract between the two sides took precedence.**

In addition, when there is an exceptional reason for dismissal or resignation, Hybe must prove it, but it was not properly explained in this case. The court said, “It is necessary to determine whether Min Hee-jin has reasons for dismissal or resignation through a faithful investigation of evidence and a close hearing on the main issue. The arguments and data submitted so far have not sufficiently explained the reasons for dismissal or resignation claimed by Hybe.”

**”It is clear that Min Hee-jin took Newjeans out of Hybe’s control or pressured Hybe to sell Hybe’s stake in Ador to find a way to control it independently,” the court said. It could be a treacherous act against Hybe, but it is difficult to say that it is a breach of trust against Ador,” he pointed out.**

**In addition, he said, “Considering that it is difficult for Min Hee-jin to receive rights relief due to the imminent holding of the general shareholders’ meeting, and that the loss of the opportunity to perform his duties as an Ador director for the rest of the year is difficult to recover due to monetary compensation afterwards, the need to ban Hybe’s voting rights as a provisional disposition has also been clarified.”**

Holy shit did she actually pull it off?

Edit: the fact that she can stay on is genuinely remarkable. I didn’t think the courts would allow her to stay given HYBE is the majority shareholder by some margin.

The question will now become “how do they move forward together?”

Bridges have been burned, they will almost certainly continue their legal battle until they can get rid of her for good, and the group is still caught in the middle. If they were already getting “different” treatment, it’s only going to get worse from here on out.

This situation has already put a number of targets on their back. Hopefully it works out for the group.

I’m wondering if HYBE will look a gift horse in the mouth? NewJeans are still pulling terrific numbers and would (hypothetically) be ready for a lucrative world tour once they get an album released. Shelving them would leave a big gap in projected revenue. They may have alienated some multi-fans, but a huge chunk of their international audience is probably only following this case loosely. For some reason I feel like they’re going to drag their feet and sling mud at NJ as much as possible.

IM SO HAPPY WTF

I plead with everyone to react to the news with caution. There are still so many things ahead. If HYBE doesn’t act quickly, I can see MHj’s side countering with another lawsuit for obstruction of business, while HYBE might explore further legal options or seek a strategic compromise. Let’s see what happens next.

MHJ and her lawyers’ statement on the ruling: [https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/117/0003836478](https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/117/0003836478)

Most notable is that they plan to file complaints against Hybe’s malicious mediaplay during this entire process. Also, they have said they will seek to prevent Hybe from replacing Ador’s other board members.

I’m sure Hybe will also have plenty of cards to play themselves. This is far from over, even if this is a major ruling in the conflict. Another major point will be the results from the police investigation of MHJ’s alleged breach of trust.

This article talks about the aftermath. Yellow thug company will replace BOD and isolate MHJ.

It seems dismissal is just matter of time unless idk.

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/366/0000995672

I’m not even pro mhj but wow the meltdowns some people are having (not here)… Some time you just need to step back and realize that it’s just music lol

I know some people are downplaying this “provisional” ruling and while I have no doubt that HYBE is going to do everything legally to get this back on their side, I cannot overstate how big of a win this is for MHJ in terms of precedent.

Just because of this ruling, she has more legal ammo at her disposal to fight back against future HYBE actions. Not to mention, HYBE is in a very uncomfortable position right now because shareholders will be unhappy to say the least. At this point in time, this was the worst possible outcome for HYBE and they have to play this next phase really carefully if they want the public back in its favor. I think the first indicator of how this impacts HYBE would be tomorrow’s share price and how it performs in the short term.

Regardless, lots of tumultuous times ahead for both parties.