Legal tensions mount between HYBE and ADOR as Min Hee Jin rejects call for board meeting
Min Hee-jin, the CEO of ADOR, has announced her decision not to comply with a board meeting requested by HYBE.
On April 29th, representatives for Min told Newsen that the request for a board meeting to discuss a shareholder meeting resolution, prompted by an audit, was not legally valid. According to the law, the authority of an auditor to call such a meeting is limited to the scope necessary for reporting audit results. Thus, ADOR has decided not to convene the board as requested.
This decision follows HYBE’s initiation of a surprise audit of Ador’s management on April 22nd, after which Min was accused of embezzlement related to her duties. HYBE has since called for Min’s resignation to ensure proper management and requested the ADOR board meeting scheduled for April 30th.
In anticipation of the potential failure of the board meeting, HYBE had already filed a request with the court on April 25th to convene a temporary general meeting of shareholders. Court decisions on such matters typically take about 4 to 5 weeks. If approved, notification of the temporary shareholder meeting will be issued on the same day, with the meeting and a subsequent board meeting to occur about fifteen days later. HYBE plans to use this meeting to dismiss the current directors, including Min, and appoint new ones.
Moreover, HYBE has accused Min Hee-jin of plotting to usurp management control in collaboration with other executives, alleging that she consulted with a shaman on major company decisions. Min Hee-jin refuted these allegations during an emergency press conference held in Seoul on April 25th. She released several messages exchanged with HYBE’s chairman Bang Si-hyuk and CEO Park Ji-won, denying any plans or actions to seize control of the company. Min argued that HYBE’s evidence was distorted and framed, labeling the accusations as retaliation for an internal complaint related to copyright issues.Min’s legal team emphasized that with HYBE holding an 80% stake in ADOR and Min only 20%, any takeover would be implausible.
Following Min’s press conference, HYBE responded by stating that many of Min’s claims were factually incorrect and challenging to address one by one. They reiterated their call for her resignation to ensure the proper management of ADOR, stating her actions at the conference demonstrated her unsuitability as an executive.