SEOUL — A South Korean court on Wednesday ordered the founder of Smilegate, a developer of video games including Crossfire, to pay his ex-wife 2.55 trillion won ($1.91 billion) in assets, marking the largest divorce settlement in the country’s history.
The Seoul Family Court ruled that Kwon Hyuk-bin, 52, Smilegate’s chief vision officer, must transfer 35% of the unlisted company’s shares and cash to his wife Lee Hwa-jin, a court official said by telephone.
This settlement is more than double the previous record of 944 billion won, which tech titan Chey Tae-won was ordered to pay his ex-wife.The court valued Smilegate at 7.1 trillion won, the Yonhap news agency said. The court official could not immediately confirm the valuation.
Kwon is one of the country’s richest men. Bloomberg puts his net worth at $3bn.
In filing for divorce with Kwon, Lee had sought a 50% stake in Smilegate. Her lawyers argued that she had helped finance the company at its founding, according to Bloomberg.
Kwon and Lee got married in 2001, a year before he founded Smilegate. Its best-known titles include the first-person shooter game CrossFire and the action role-playing game Lost Ark.
Lee also said she spent more than 20 years raising their children and caring for their household.
Kwon in turn argued that Lee neither invested nor worked for the company. Earlier this year, Smilegate published a statement saying all of the company’s initial capital came from Kwon.
A Smilegate spokesperson declined to “comment on the major shareholder’s personal matters”.
“We will continue to faithfully perform our duties as usual,” they said in a statement cited by The Chosun Daily.
Both parties can still challenge the ruling.
In July this year, Chey Tae-won, the chairman of the corporate giant SK Group, was ordered to pay his ex-wife 944 billion won, which, prior to today’s ruling, was the largest divorce award in Korean history.
However, this was later struck down by the Supreme Court who cited a miscalculation that increased the value of the couple’s assets. It has ordered the case to be reviewed.
Source: Saudi Gazette