Kim So-young, co-representative of Munhakdongne, decides to resign... There is no speculation regarding the ‘promotion of sale’.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ki-hoon = Kim So-young, co-CEO of Munhakdongne, a publishing company whose majority shareholder is seeking to sell its shares, has decided to step down at the end of this month.

According to an official at Munhakdongne on the 19th, CEO Kim announced his intention to resign at a meeting that day, saying, “I plan to work until this month.”

Currently, Munhakdongne is run by co-representatives Kim So-young and Lee Hyun-ja.

CEO Kim has recently been busy with his official schedule, including attending the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, and some are analyzing whether his sudden announcement of resignation may be related to the sale push.

However, the specific reason was not confirmed.

The Munhakdongne management system is called the ‘3-3-3 system’.

A new CEO is selected from within Munhakdongne and operates as a joint CEO with the former CEO for three years. After three years, the former CEO steps down and operates as a sole representative for three years. Then, a new representative will be elected and the joint representative system will run again for three years.

Once appointed as representative, he or she will serve as representative for a total of 9 years.

CEO Kim was appointed as CEO on January 1, 2019.

With CEO Kim stepping down as his term ends at the end of next year, some are speculating that differences of opinion on the sale of the majority shareholder's stake may have been exposed.

Founder Kang Byeong-seon (pen name Kang Tae-hyung, poet), who founded Munhakdongne, is seeking to sell all of his 41.5% stake. We are meeting with multiple companies to discuss sales plans, and the sale price is estimated to be in the tens of billions of won, up to 100 billion won.

According to the Munhakdongne audit report, founder Kang's shares amount to 41.5%. Other shareholders account for 51.8%, and treasury stocks account for 6.7%.

Except for founder Kang, the remaining shares are distributed among several shareholders, including the editorial board members at the time of Munhakdongne's founding. It is reported that a plan to purchase 100% of the shares as part of the acquisition of Munhakdongne is also being discussed.

In relation to this, founder Kang met with the first editorial board members who held stocks on the 23rd of last month to discuss ways to sell all stocks, but it is said that no agreement has been reached yet.