HYBE who deposits 29.2 billion won to the Court today despite having no profit in their most recent quarterly financial report

 [theqoo - hot] [Exclusive] HYBE who lost their lawsuit against Min Hee-jin, deposited 29.2 billion won to the court.

date: 25/02/2026

HYBE, who was ordered to pay 25.5 billion KRW in stock purchase proceeds following former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin’s exercise of her put option, has deposited funds with the court to prevent provisional enforcement of the ruling.

According to the legal community on the 25th, HYBE paid 29.25 billion KRW as a litigation security deposit to the Seoul Central District Court.

On the 12th, the Civil Agreement Division 31 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Nam In-soo) ruled in favor of former CEO Min in both HYBE’s lawsuit seeking confirmation of termination of the shareholders’ agreement and Min’s lawsuit against HYBE for payment of stock sale proceeds.

In response, on the 19th, HYBE filed an appeal against the first-instance ruling and submitted an application to suspend compulsory execution.

On the 23rd, the Civil Agreement Division 17 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Jang Ji-hye) approved the suspension, halting the forced payment of the put option proceeds until the appeal ruling is delivered.

In civil lawsuits, it is common for the losing party to request a suspension of enforcement to prevent provisional execution of the judgment.

In most cases, the court approves this on the condition that the party provides collateral, either by depositing a certain amount in cash or submitting a surety insurance certificate, unless there are special circumstances.

HYBE and former CEO Min established a business agreement including stock option payments right after forming the subsidiary ADOR in November 2021. After NewJeans debuted successfully in March 2023, Min requested additional compensation, prompting a separate shareholders’ agreement.

According to the agreement, if Min exercises the put option (the right to sell a certain amount of shares at a pre-agreed price at a certain time), she is entitled to receive from HYBE an amount equal to 75% of her ADOR shares, calculated as 13 times the average operating profit of ADOR over the preceding two years.

However, HYBE filed a lawsuit in July 2024 to confirm termination of the shareholders’ agreement, claiming that Min violated the contract by planning and executing a “NewJeans poaching” scheme. HYBE argued that the shareholders’ agreement had already been terminated and that it had no obligation to pay the put option proceeds.

Min rebutted HYBE’s claims as a “story stitched together from KakaoTalk messages” and “an attempt to intimidate the label,” filing a counter-lawsuit in November 2024 for payment of the stock sale proceeds. She argued that since the put option was exercised before any contract termination, she had a legitimate claim to the proceeds.

The first-instance court ruled that “HYBE must pay 25.5 billion KRW to Min Hee-jin, 1.7 billion KRW to former deputy CEO Shin, and 1.4 billion KRW to former director Kim.”

The court found no major contract violations by Min prior to exercising the put option that would justify contract termination. Actions such as exploring ADOR’s independence or raising concerns about i-LIT copying NewJeans were considered within the scope of reasonable business judgment.

The court stated, “The loss of 25.6 billion KRW due to contract termination is relatively clear and substantial. For termination to be justified, there must be a major violation; abstract risks alone are insufficient.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, former CEO Min held a press conference and publicly proposed that she would forgo receiving the 25.6 billion KRW related to the put option if HYBE agrees to end all legal disputes.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/421/0008793555?sid=102

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COMMENTS

1. Net income for the period is minus 260 billion won because of this kind of spending.

2. I can only see how seriously ugly and pathetic they are, they're just trying to ruin her

3. Those f*cking vicious bastards 

4. Well since their image has been created like that already it seems like they're going all the wayㅋㅋㅋㅋ

5. Their image is just so bad, I wish they don't appear in K-pop anymore

6. They keep raising the cost of HYBE idol concerts to spend money on things like this ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

7. This is why NewJeans tried to follow Min even though they knew it was clearly at a legal disadvantage. I feel bad for NewJeans.

8. A really good example of what Korean men are like

9. I figured they must’ve deposited the money when they heard she applied for suspension of execution ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ So they have money to put into court escrow, but not money to pay Min Hee-jin? As expected classic shady debtor mindset.

10. They’re going to end up spending all the money earned by their idols on legal fees at this rate. How much harder are they going to push the idols, and how much more are they planning to squeeze out of the fans, to be throwing money around like that?

11. It really feels like a fight between someone who genuinely loves idols and the industry vs someone who just sees them as money and tools.

12. To begin with, the put option lawsuit isn’t the only case. There’s also a damages lawsuit filed, and that one is for 40 billion KRW. The put option case focuses on whether there were acts like tampering up until Min Hee-jin was dismissed, whereas the damages lawsuit includes periods such as when NewJeans declared contract termination and other related developments. Of course, we don’t know for sure, but since HYBE is seeking 40 billion KRW in damages, it didn’t seem likely that they would just give that up so I expected they would appeal.

13. This is so f*cking ugly, seriously f*cking disgusting...

14. This is really uglyㅋㅋㅋㅋ I think idols belonging to HYBE should be careful when they leave the company, they're really dirty

15. Seriously, what’s taking them so long? Just pay the money, let NewJeans do their activities, and stop stirring up drama HYBE really needs to get its act together.