Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
A big thanks to everybody involved in the HYBE/ADOR conflict for giving us a break from daily walls of texts, thus giving me the chance to catch up on other stuff before doing something of a summary post of what’s still to come. There’s have been a lot of questions and assumptions running amok after the injunction ruling that kept Min Hee Jin as CEO, so it seemed worthwhile to at least try to sort out what’s still to come.
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While the injunction result is likely important since it can be used elsewhere, there have been way too many people acting like this is now effectively over or something when there’s a bunch more legal stuff to be resolved.
- HYBE filed a criminal complaint against Min Hee Jin and other ADOR executives for breach of trust. Since then, police have questioned both HYBE and ADOR executives. The police have said that both sides are cooperating and have submitted additional evidence, which is likely to be important in getting a different result from the injunction lawsuit.
- BELIFT LAB filed a criminal complaint against Min Hee Jin for interference with business and defamation.
- BELIFT LAB filed a civil lawsuit against Min Hee Jin for damages, presumably for defamation.
- HYBE requested a Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) investigation into an ADOR executive for insider trading and market manipulation. They also requested investigations of Min Hee Jin and other ADOR executives for market manipulation.
Additionally, there’s the fact that Min Hee Jin is indeed still CEO of ADOR. As I mentioned about a month ago, the ADOR board around Min Hee Jin has been replaced by three HYBE selections. At the press conference after the injunction ruling, even her lawyers seemed concerned HYBE could try to force Min Hee Jin out that way through an ADOR board vote, but it’s now been weeks since they could’ve tried (June 10), so they appear to have opted to not go that route.
That’s likely because the injunction decision was clear that a clause they gave her in the shareholder agreement necessitates cause in order for her to be booted as CEO, so they’re probably going to wait for the outcome of the legal stuff above to act. HYBE are also additionally likely not trying to appoint a co-CEO for ADOR and are being cooperative with Min Hee Jin at ADOR for now because rocking the boat in either manner risks opening themselves up to a breach of trust angle for Min Hee Jin against HYBE.
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So yeah, for better or worse, plenty of mess and uncertainty ahead depending on the outcomes of all that.
Think that’s about where things stand at the moment. And I’m sure the moment I get busy again with something is when the floodgates on all this will open.
