Suspicious Transactions by Metoon Owner Family... 400% Valuation Gains from Share Accumulation Before Management Rights Sale

Family and Relatives Divided Stock Purchases at Market Lows in June and July
"Owner Family’s Share Acquisitions Intended to Support Share Price"

It has been confirmed that Changwook Sohn, CEO of Metoon, a KOSDAQ-listed company specializing in social casino and casual games, amassed a significant stake in his own company by mobilizing relatives and his underage children to buy company shares intensively two to three months before signing a management rights sale agreement with Kakao Games. By accumulating shares at low prices prior to the merger and acquisition (M&A), they realized valuation gains of up to 400% within just over two months.

Changwook Son, CEO of Metoon

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on September 16, Kakao Games held a board of directors meeting the previous day and resolved to secure management control of Metoon by acquiring a 39.56% stake for about KRW 98 billion. This involves simultaneous agreements to purchase existing shares (KRW 70.1 billion) from Sohn and eight other major shareholders, and to acquire new shares through a third-party allotment capital increase (KRW 27.9 billion). The sale price for the existing shares is KRW 10,000 per share.

What stands out is the unusual pattern of discounted share purchases by Sohn’s immediate family and relatives that took place in June and July. The number of individuals related to Sohn with Metoon shares surged from 4 in May to 10 in July. Sohn’s older brother, Changhwan Sohn, a physician, bought an additional 46,653 shares on June 10, increasing his holdings from 85,301 to 131,954 shares. Sohn’s spouse, Park Jiyeong, purchased 30,096 shares over 16 transactions during June alone.

Furthermore, Sohn’s three underage children—Yesuh Sohn (born 2011), Yena Sohn (born 2019), and Yejun Sohn (born 2021)—each bought 10,000 shares of Metoon, thereby being registered on the shareholder list. The source of the funds for the children’s share purchases was “gifts.” In addition, relative Kim Sora acquired 45,200 shares over three separate transactions in June, increasing her holdings to 112,744 shares.

At the time, Metoon explained that the family members purchased shares because they considered the share price to be unreasonably low compared to the company’s situation, drawing a clear line that it was not related to management control or governance issues.

However, as Kakao Games agreed the previous day to purchase existing Metoon shares at KRW 10,000 per share, the controlling family, who accumulated shares at KRW 1,900–2,000 per share, has realized substantial evaluation gains. Over a two-month period, their short-term return has exceeded 400%. As of this month, related persons collectively hold a total of 461,390 shares with voting rights.

Regarding the timing of this concentrated share accumulation and management rights sale, Metoon emphasizes that M&A discussions with Kakao Games proceeded very rapidly after initial contact between the two companies. A Metoon spokesperson stated, “CEO Sohn regarded the share price as undervalued if it was below KRW 2,000, and purchased shares as part of responsible management. This M&A decision was made to achieve greater growth as a content company.”

This M&A represents the first major transaction by Kakao Games after Linyahoo’s private equity fund joined in June, resulting in a new governance structure. Kakao Games plans to use the acquisition of Metoon’s management rights to strengthen its line-up in social casino and casual games and accelerate global expansion. As of 10:12 a.m. on this day, Metoon’s share price stood at KRW 3,840, up 29.95% from the previous trading day, while Kakao Games’ share price was down 2.94% at KRW 9,590.

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