‘I‘m resigning from Adore - unfollowing New Jeans - claiming put option.’ Summary of Min Hee-jin’s day on November 20, 2024.

Min Hee-jin, former CEO of Adore, the agency that New Jeans belongs to, also stepped down from her position as an internal director of Adore on this day. Even releasing a statement that was two pages long, former CEO Min gave a detailed ‘reason for her resignation’, and also left a meaningful message saying, ‘I hope you will show a lot of interest in the new K-pop journey that will unfold in the future’.

In addition to the media communication method using a PR firm, her personal SNS where she ‘meets’with her fandom and the public coincidentally had ‘zero’(0) following counts that day. Among the SNS he subscribed to, there was the official account of Adore, which is now his former workplace, and the group New Jeans. He unfollowed Adore as well as New Jeans.

He submitted his resignation letter and also filed a complaint. It was confirmed that he filed a complaint against Adore‘s parent company, Hive, for a put option payment through his legal representative to the Seoul Central District Court that morning.

This means that Hive, the major shareholder, will ‘purchase’ a certain amount of Adore shares that he claims to own. The estimated amount is in the 25 billion won range.

Judging by the two-page resignation letter, the reason for resignation actually sent to Adore by phone may have gone beyond the ‘one-line’ and there was even a ‘bble’ online.

In his statement regarding his resignation, former CEO Min continued the upheaval by mobilizing investigations such as ‘conscience’ ... In addition, he announced a kind of ‘off-market struggle’ that he would “take necessary legal action one by one against the numerous illegal acts of Hive and its associates.

According to the legal community, before submitting his resignation on this day, former CEO Min also filed a complaint for a put option payment against Hive, Adore’s parent company and major shareholder, at the Seoul Central District Court. The estimated amount is in the 25 billion won range, and the calculation method is based on a shareholder agreement, the validity of which is highly likely to cause another dispute. In relation to the shareholder agreement, Hive, Adore‘s parent company, notified former CEO Min of its termination in August, stating that he had violated the principle of good faith.

Meanwhile, Adore said on the same day that former CEO Min submitted his resignation, “We regret Director Min Hee-jin’s ‘unilateral resignation notice’. We will do our best to ‘support’New Jeans so that it can grow and develop further.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com