Ahn Cheol-soo Buys KRW 2.6 Billion Worth of AhnLab Shares in a Month... Market Watches for Reason Behind Additional Purchases

Stake Management and Confidence in AhnLab’s Future Value
Unusual Share Purchases Draw Attention

Ahn Cheol-soo, founder of cybersecurity company AhnLab and member of the People Power Party, has drawn attention for purchasing approximately 2.6 billion won worth of AhnLab shares on the stock market over the past month. Industry experts interpret this move as a reflection of the founder's intention to maintain stable control amid recent amendments to the Commercial Act, while also preserving AhnLab's identity as a leading domestic cybersecurity company.

Ahn Cheol-soo, member of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on July 30, Ahn purchased 10,000 common shares of AhnLab on the open market from July 22 to 29 for approximately 533 million won. This follows his purchase of 40,000 AhnLab shares at the end of last month, marking additional buying just one month later. In total, he has invested over 2.6 billion won in share acquisitions over the past month.

With this latest purchase, Ahn's stake in AhnLab has increased from 1.86 million shares to 1.91 million shares, raising his ownership ratio to 17.17%. The combined stake of major shareholders, including Donggrami Foundation (1 million shares, 8.99%)—a related party—and Saudi Arabian foreign corporation SITE Ventures (1,112,651 shares, 10.00%)—a joint holder—has risen from 35.70% to 36.15%.

This buying activity is seen as unusual, as it marks the first time since AhnLab's establishment that the largest shareholder has actively purchased shares. After stepping down as CEO in 2005, Ahn partially sold his holdings, and upon entering politics in 2012, he further disposed of and donated a significant portion of his shares. His involvement with the company has since been limited to visiting on the anniversary of its founding to take commemorative photos with employees, with no direct participation in management.

Analysts cite the recent amendments to the Commercial Act as a key reason behind these purchases, suggesting Ahn is seeking to maintain stable control. With changes to the act and the strengthening of minority shareholders' rights, it has become more important for the largest shareholder group to secure effective defensive stakes. In particular, the move is seen as a preemptive step by major shareholders to manage their stake should there be any future changes to the holdings of strategic investor SITE Ventures from Saudi Arabia.

While Ahn is not directly involved in management, his actions can also be interpreted as a move to defend the stock price and invest based on confidence in AhnLab's undervalued corporate value and future growth prospects. In the first half of this year, AhnLab posted consolidated revenue of 130.4 billion won and operating profit of 7.3 billion won, delivering steady results. The company’s global business expansion, centered on its Saudi joint venture "RakIn," as well as next-generation security products such as Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR), are driving continued growth.

This also reflects Ahn’s sense of responsibility as founder. Early in AhnLab’s history, he rejected a $10 million acquisition offer from global security company McAfee, signaling his commitment to protecting and nurturing the domestic software industry.

An industry insider stated, “This signals to the market the largest shareholder’s conviction and expectations for AhnLab’s growth and future value. Just as he previously rejected acquisition offers from foreign companies, his latest move reflects both the founder’s sense of responsibility and his commitment to safeguarding a leading domestic security company.”

Meanwhile, AhnLab has commented that this stock purchase was the result of Ahn’s personal decision and, as such, it is difficult to confirm the specific background.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.