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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Former Kakao CEO Lim Ji-hoon filed a lawsuit against Kakao Ventures (formerly known as K-Cube Ventures), demanding performance-based bonuses of nearly 60 billion won, but eventually lost.
The Civil Affairs Agreement Department 46 (The senior judge Lee Won-seok) at the Seoul Central District Court ruled on the 8th in a lawsuit filed by former CEO Lim to pay a bonus of 59.8 billion won against Kakao Ventures in March last year to "reject the plaintiff's claim."
The court explained that it did not accept the plaintiff's claim because the contract to change performance compensation requires a resolution from the general shareholders' meeting but did not go through it.
Former CEO Lim earlier filed a lawsuit, saying Kakao Ventures' first fund, the K-Cube No. 1 Investment Association Fund, liquidated in October 2021 but did not pay the bonuses promised in advance.
Kakao Ventures had a 100% stake in former Chairman Kim Bum-soo when it was established in March 2012 under the name of "K-Cube Ventures."
After becoming the company's first CEO, Lim signed a performance compensation contract in early 2015 that said he would receive 70% of his performance-based pay.
Later, in March 2015, K-Cube Ventures was incorporated into a Kakao affiliate, and in August, former CEO Lim resigned as CEO of Kakao Ventures.
At the end of that year, former representative Lim re-signed the performance compensation contract by saying, "The compensation ratio will be lowered to 44%, but the entire bonus will be paid regardless of the working period."
Under the contract, Lim is expected to receive a bonus of 60 billion∼80 billion won, but Kakao Ventures withheld the payment, citing that it did not go through a general shareholders' meeting and board resolutions at the time of the performance-based payment agreement in early 2015.
AlphaBIZ 김지선(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
