ADOR Refutes HYBE’s Claims “HYBE Attempted To Frame CEO Min Hee-jin As Driven By Financial Desires”

On May 2nd, ADOR officially announced its position through its legal representative Sejong.

ADOR stated the reason for this statement as follows: “ADOR, despite facing HYBE’s rebuttals, refrained from responding to protect the value without disrupting artists’ activities. However, due to the ongoing dissemination of unverified information causing public confusion and exacerbating controversies, we decided to provide an official statement to clarify the accurate facts. We hope this helps dispel previous speculations and misunderstandings.”

ADOR further asserted, “HYBE’s claim of management usurpation is groundless. Firstly, CEO Min Hee-jin stated during the press conference that her incentive was 2 billion won, not a salary. This incentive was compensation for achieving an operating profit of 33.5 billion won within just two years of ADOR’s establishment. The issue raised regarding the incentive calculation was not about the amount itself but the lack of clarity in HYBE’s incentive criteria and the transparency of the decision-making process. Distorting the facts about incentives and mentioning CEO Min Hee-jin’s salary, incentives and stock rewards to obscure the main points can only be interpreted as HYBE attempting to frame CEO Min Hee-jin as driven by financial desires.”

Regarding the process of whistleblowing and audits, ADOR questioned, “We wonder, what kind of listed company exposes audit details that should be handled internally to the public, even editing unconfirmed content and reporting it as if it were a real-time broadcast? Moreover, the artists under the subsidiary label were on the verge of a comeback. This activation of audit authority severely hampers the business operations of CEO Min Hee-jin and ADOR members, who were tirelessly working day and night. In particular, HYBE claims to have provided new laptops and downloaded existing data to ensure no disruption to work, but this is untrue. Vice-CEOs’ laptops were seized without even allowing time to download existing work materials, and the confiscation process itself was unreasonable.”

ADOR also refuted HYBE’s claims regarding the promise to debut NewJeans as the first girl group but instead debuting LE SSERAFIM and instructing not to promote NewJeans upon debut.

Regarding the claim that HYBE and Min Hee-jin’s contract was not a “slave contract”, ADOR said, “CEO Min Hee-jin does not deny the necessity of the competition ban. As a CEO who runs an entertainment business, she is well aware that she might be prohibited from engaging in competitive business for a certain period. However, it is important that the scope and duration of the non-competition agreement must be reasonable, but the contract with the shareholders is not like that”.

They continued, “What is irrational about the current shareholder contract is that CEO Min Hee-jin can only be free from the competition ban if she no longer holds any shares, and it is natural for anyone to try to solve such unfairness. According to HYBE’s rebuttal in December last year, they claimed that there were differences in interpretation regarding the sale-related provisions in the contract and that they would resolve the ambiguous parts. However, any legal expert would find the content not ambiguous, and CEO Min Hee-jin must continue to bear the competition ban until she gets HYBE’s consent to dispose of all the shares. Although they promised to resolve ambiguous parts in December of last year, it was not until mid-March of this year that we could receive a proposed revision of such content”.

ADOR also expressed their official position on the follow-up reports regarding the shareholder contract. The agency said, “HYBE is misleading the public that CEO Min Hee-jin insisted on 30 times the put options as if the current conflict stems from her financial motives. However, 30 times the put options were merely part of the proposal during the process of amending unreasonable elements in the shareholder agreement that reflects the future value of producing a boy group. It was not a priority item in the negotiation”.

ADOR stated, “When signing the stock trading agreement and the shareholder contract in March of last year, HYBE additionally promised to give CEO Min Hee-jin 10% stake in ADOR in the form of stock options. However, legal advice revealed that stock options cannot be granted to Min Hee-jin, who is a major shareholder under the Commercial Law. These stock options were not requested by Min Hee-jin, but were proposed by HYBE. Min Hee-jin couldn’t deny the fact that HYBE had deceived her. It was a matter of trust.”

They added, “The claim that HYBE proposed to lift the competition ban, and CEO Min Hee-jin rejected it is not true either. HYEB proposed that Min Hee-jin would have to serve for 8 years and then bear the competition ban for 1 year after retirement. They also suggested exercising the put options in stages according to this period. However, during the shareholder contract negotiations, controversy arose regarding ILLIT issues that continue until now. CEO Min Hee-jin has not delivered any position related to HYBE’s proposal. The information about Min Hee-jin’s refusal is not true”.

In addition, ADOR countered HYBE’s claim that Min Hee-jin relied on a shaman to run the company, saying “NewJeans’s success and ADOR’s remarkable performance within a short period of time are based on our rational management decision-making. HYBE made these arguments seemingly to frame ADOR and discredit our success. The increase in ADOR’s sales and operating profit stems from preventing unnecessary spending, efficiently managing budgets, and our united efforts to enhance brand image. If their claims were true, why would CEO Min Hee-jin and ADOR members work tirelessly day and night? It is pathetic that HYBE, a company that should lead K-POP, attempted to frame personal attacks unrelated to the issue and announced them just before Min Hee-jin’s press conference”.

Lastly, ADOR emphasized, “In the future, ADOR will continue to do our best to support NewJeans’s activities. If HYBE wants to protect IP and consider the interests of shareholders, we hope they will stop the unconvincing smear campaign and show a reasonable approach to support ADOR’s full dedication to creation.”