TapTechNews August 8th news, Korean prosecutors recently indicted Kakao founder Kim Beom-soo on charges of stock manipulation, becoming a heavyweight case in the Korean Internet industry.
According to Yonhap News Agency's report on Thursday, prosecutors officially accused Kim Beom-soo of market violations during Kakao's acquisition of SM Entertainment last February. Allegedly, Kim Beom-soo is suspected of driving up the share price of SM Entertainment to more than 120,000 Korean won (TapTechNews note: currently about 626 Chinese yuan) per share for the bidding price of the competing entity HYBE, thereby hindering HYBE's bidding.
The prosecution believes that Kim Beom-soo is suspected of investing about 240 billion Korean won (currently about 1.253 billion Chinese yuan) to purchase SM shares in four days (February 16th, 17th, 27th, 28th) during Kakao's acquisition of SM Entertainment last February to drive up the stock price and prevent the public acquisition of the competitor HYBE. Among them, the 28th was the deadline for HYBE to publicly acquire SM shares. Due to the fact that the SM share price closed at 127,600 Korean won that day, which was higher than the public acquisition price (120,000 Korean won), HYBE finally gave up the acquisition.
Kim Beom-soo was arrested in July this year for allegedly being involved in this plan, making him another heavyweight tech executive to be arrested since Samsung Electronics President Lee Jae-yong. Thursday's indictment paves the way for the final trial, and the trial date will be determined later. Before the trial, Kim Beom-soo will continue to be detained.
Kakao previously denied these accusations in a statement, claiming that Kim Beom-soo never ordered or tolerated any illegal activities. It is reported that Kim Beom-soo is the founder and largest shareholder of Kakao, controlling 24% of the company's shares through him or affiliated entities.