On Thursday, May 30, the Seoul Central District Court granted an injunction filed by Ador CEO Min Hee-jin, an affiliate of K-pop giant Hybe, preventing the latter from dismissing her as the sublabel’s head.
The court rendered its ruling a day before the Ador shareholders’ meeting, where Hybe was anticipated to take Min’s position as CEO due to an alleged breach of trust.
In a report, Sejong Law Firm, a legal representative of Min Hee-jin said, “Hybe requested Ador to convene an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting on the agenda of dismissal of CEO and in-house director Min Hee-jin on April 22, 2024, and the above extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting will be held on the 31st. However, this violated the shareholder contract signed between CEO Min Hee-jin and Hybe, and CEO Min Hee-jin applied for a provisional disposition against Hive on the 7th to ban the exercise of voting rights on the “agenda for dismissal of CEO and in-house director Min Hee-jin.”
“The 50th Civil Affairs Department of the Seoul Central District Court made a decision this afternoon to cite the above request for provisional disposition. As a result, Hybe will not be able to exercise its voting rights in favor of “the dismissal of inside director Min Hee-jin” at Ador’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held on the 31st,” they went on.
With 80 percent of Ador’s shares in its possession, Hybe conducted a surprise audit of Min late last month and then filed a breach of trust lawsuit against her, charging her with a scheme to seize control of Ador and take NewJeans with her.
In an attempt to stop Hybe from using its voting rights to remove her as Ador CEO during the following shareholders’ meeting, Min has firmly disputed the accusations and requested a court injunction.
The Seoul Central District Court issued the injunction after concluding that Hybe’s grounds for Min’s dismissal were insufficient. They established that Min’s termination, should it be accepted at the next shareholders’ meeting, would not be rescinded, not even by a primary lawsuit, and that any harm arising from her position loss would not be compensated financially.
The court also stated that although Min had not advanced to the implementation stage, she had “clearly” wanted autonomous control over Ador; hence, the court concluded that Min had engaged in betrayal but not a breach of trust.
Additionally, the court mandated that Hybe must pay 20 billion won (US$14.5 million) in compensation if the company disregards the ruling and dismisses Min.
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