Ador CEO Min Hee-jin / Courtesy of Ador

Min Hee-jin, CEO of HYBE's sub-label Ador, has become the entertainment company's second-largest shareholder, following only the major stake held by HYBE.

According to DART, the electronic disclosure system operated by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Ador announced earlier this week that Min holds 573,160 shares, or an 18 percent stake, of the entertainment agency.

HYBE, the parent company of the label, used to hold a 100 percent stake until the end of 2022, but its stake over Ador went down to 80 percent, or over 2.57 million shares, as of the end of 2023.

The remaining 2 percent stake is held by other executives of the company.

Ador's financial statement disclosed through the electronic system that Min exercised her call option in acquiring the 18 percent stake from HYBE last year for a price of about 1.1 billion won ($8 million).

Ador was established in late 2021 with an investment of 16.1 billion won by HYBE.

With the mega-hit success of NewJeans, the K-pop girl group planned and launched by Ador under the creative direction of Min, the company posted an annual revenue of 110.2 billion won and an operating profit of 33.5 billion won for last year.

Min started her career in the K-pop industry back in 2002 by joining SM Entertainment through open recruitment. With her unique talents in conceptualizing impactful designs, she contributed to the production of highly successful groups, including Girls' Generation, SHINee and f(x).

After she was promoted to an executive member of SM in 2017, overseeing art direction, she decided to move to HYBE in 2019. As the chief brand officer, she developed the firm's new corporate image and was responsible for the interior design of the new headquarters. She also produced NewJeans as the chief of Ador.