(This is a continuation of the comprehensive rundown of HYBE vs. ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin article)
A few days after HYBE’s detailed statement on ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s press conference, ADOR released their own detailed statement to refute everything HYBE said.
The statement, posted on May 2, 2024, began with ADOR saying that they regret having to release another statement apart from news about NewJeans. The continued on by stating they have continuously requested HYBE to refrain and avoid doing media play that spread unnecessary news and in turn will affect NewJeans’ value.
ADOR added that they have not responded to whatever HYBe had said to not cause any harm to their artist’s activities, and said that they wanted to clarify some things about the ongoing controversy with 9 points.
1 Regarding the takeover of management rights- HYBE’s claim of a “management rights takeover” is baseless. There was no specific plan or execution related to it.
ADOR’s Vice President had approached the senior management at HYBE to “request a halt to their unilateral battle of public opinion,” but HYBE pressured him by saying, “If you get sued and your ties gets cut off for being the person in charge, how are you going to cover the damages you have to pay?” and “Think about your family.”
The ADOR Vice President’s messages were leaked to the media the next day. HYBE also manipulated the content to make it look like there was a plot to take over the management rights. Min Hee-jin saying “This will have to be noted as being a casual conversation” was also edited.
2 Regarding financial compensation- The 2 billion won that Min Hee-jin mentioned was not her salary, and was a reward for gaining 33.5 billion won in operating profit 2 years after ADOR was established. Min Hee-jin said that HYBE’s criteria for incentives was unclear and there was a total lack of explanation for it.
The twisting of facts was an attempt by HYBE to falsely accuse Min Hee-jin of being driven by financial greed.
3 Regarding the internal whistleblowing and audit process- HYBE CEO Park Ji-won responded to ADOR’s internal whistleblowing email on April 22 at 10 A.M., which also happened simultaneously with HYBE starting an audit, seizing the ADOR Vice President’s laptop, and the sending of a letter that demanded Min Hee-jin’s resignation.
After all that, news articles started blowing up all about the audit, etc. ADOR asks, “What was your response to Min’s internal whistleblowing email?” “What kind of listed company discloses to the public the details of an audit that should be conducted discreetly, even editing in unverified information, and reports them as if they were a live broadcast?”
The claims of HYBE providing new laptops as soon as the work laptops were taken were also false.
4 Regarding HYBE’s promise to debut [NewJeans] as the first girl group- HYBE had publicly declared NewJeans as Min Hee-jin’s girl group and HYBE’s first girl group. Witnesses to this declaration were the NewJeans’ members’ parents, executives, and employees of ADOR.
However, with the recruitment of Sakura and Kim Chaewon and the debut of LE SSERAFIM, HYBE did not keep to its promise of making NewJeans as their first girl group. At the same time this was happening, Min Hee-jin had requested ADOR to be established while giving up her shares, and had gone through a lot just to transfer and debut NewJeans under ADOR.
HYBE had initially said that NewJeans’ debut schedule “could not help but be delayed,” to which ADOR replied, “It is regrettable that HYBE continues to lie about the truth of what has already happened” despite the truth already being out there.
5 Regarding the request to not promote NewJeans’ debut- What HYBE said was not only “factually incorrect, but also logically inconsistent.”
HYBE gave the excuse that there wasn’t enough time for the promotion of the two groups and that there were promotional periods set. ADOR says that there were no such agreements.
HYBE wanted to cause confusion in the industry about LE SSERAFIM being Min Hee-jin’s girl group, and that Park Ji-won had explicitly messaged Min Hee-jin to tell ADOR to not promote NewJeans. This was already confirmed with the evidence on social media, but HYBE continues to refute and change its story.
6 Regarding the claim that it was not a slave contract- Min Hee-jin does not deny the need of the non-competition clause in the contract, but says that “business and duration subject to the prohibition of competition must be reasonable, which is not the case with the current shareholders’ agreement.”
7 Regarding follow-up reports on the shareholders’ agreement- HYBE had misled information by saying that Min Hee-jin had demanded an increase while suggesting that this was motivated by financial reasons. But, the reason for this increase “was a reflection of the value of our future boy group production,” among other things.
This can be summed up as a matter of “trust”, especially with HYBE promising Min Hee-jin an additional 10% stake in ADOR, but legal advice states that these stocks could not be given to Min Hee-jin under Commercial Code.
Min Hee-jin has not communicated anything about HYBE’s proposal and saying that she had refused this was untrue.
8 Regarding the fact that the shaman is simply a friend- The success of NewJeans and ADOR’s achievements in such a short amount of time was due to rational business decisions, not because of a shaman.
ADOR says, “It is regrettable that HYBE, which should be a leader of K-pop, attempted to frame with personal defamation unrelated to the issue and not even worth responding to, especially announcing it just before Min Hee-jin’s press conference.”
9 Regarding the fact that HYBE does not cherish NewJeans- HYBE announced the audit to the media, and at the same time “without any concrete evidence,” they claimed that there was an “impossible takeover of management rights.” HYBE did not make any attempts to listen to ADOR’s stance, sparking controversy even before NewJeans’ comeback.
ADOR later ended their statement by stating that they hoped that the information had helped clear up any other speculations. They also added that they were focusing all their efforts into NewJeans’ upcoming activities and that they will continue to do so.
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