The case was accepted by the Civil Court No. 31, with three plaintiffs, including Min, asking HYBE to pay the fair value of the shares under the "put option" clause and confirm the termination of the shareholder agreement.
According to the previously signed contract, Min Hee Jin is allowed to resell 75% of her ADOR shares to HYBE, a price calculated at 13 times the average operating profit of ADOR in the last two years. In the period of 20222023, ADOR's operating profit reached 4 billion won and 33.5 billion won respectively. With 573,160 shares, equivalent to 18% of shares, Min could receive about 26 billion won (19.8 million USD) if the voting rights were exercised.
However, HYBE confirmed that the shareholder agreement had been terminated since July 2024, so Min Hee Jin's rights were no longer valid. The legal dispute is currently surrounding the determination of the legality and validity of this agreement.
The hearing continues to attract great attention from the Korean public, because the lawsuit could directly affect the relationship between HYBE and ADOR - the company that currently owns the group NewJeans.
