| Smilegate founder and chief visionary officer (CVO) Kwon Hyuk-bin, center, sits during the closing ceremony of WCG 2019 Xi'an in China back in July 2019. Courtesy of WCG |
Smilegate founder's divorce to be highest wealth split case ever in Korea
By Anna J. Park
As Smilegate founder and Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) Kwon Hyuk-bin appears to be facing an imminent divorce with his wife, Lee Hwa-jin, media attention is already focusing on the couple's potential asset division, which is expected to be the highest amount ever seen in the country.
According to industry insiders earlier this week, the Seoul Family Court recently granted an injunction filed by Kwon's wife, prohibiting him from selling off his owned shares. Such an injunction is typically seen as a move preceding an upcoming divorce suit that includes a large-scale property and asset division. Both parties are said to be preparing divorce lawsuits with various law firms.
Although the real divorce lawsuit reportedly hasn't yet been filed by either spouse, the media hype has already been piling up over how Kwon's mega wealth will be divvied up, as Kwon was ranked the fifth-richest man in Korea by Forbes in April this year, with his net wealth estimated at $6.8 billion.
The 48-year-old founder of the country's third-largest gaming company trails behind only Kakao founder and Chairman Kim Beom-soo, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, MBK Partners' founder Michael Byungju Kim and Celltrion founder Seo Jeong-jin in terms of net asset wealth.
After graduating from Sogang University in 1999, Kwon married Lee in 2001 and the couple have two children. Since Kwon founded Smilegate in 2002, a year after getting married, Smilegate Holdings has grown into a corporate giant with an annual revenue of 1.43 trillion won ($1.08 billion) as of last year. The company's annual operating profit of 593 billion won posted last year far exceeds NCSOFT's operating profit of 375 billion won. The founder holds a 100 percent stake in Smilegate Holdings, the parent company of multiple subsidiaries that range from gaming and entertainment to finance.
As the gaming company's corporate value is expected to surpass 10 trillion won, Kwon's wife is expected to get up to 5 trillion won in assets from the split. Recent divorce cases in Korea tend to provide a bigger share of the couple's assets to housewives, especially when the husband's wealth is formed after getting married.
In a 2009 media interview, Kwon gave credit to his wife for encouraging him to pursue his business dreams.