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Kelly Ng News
Kwon Hyuk-bin founded South Korea's third-largest video game company, Smilegate. A South Korean court has ordered gaming tycoon Kwon Hyuk-bin to pay his ex-wife 2.55tr won ($1.87bn; £1.38bn) in assets, marking the largest divorce settlement in the country's history. Kwon, who founded Smilegate, is one of South Korea's richest men with a net worth of $3bn according to Bloomberg. The court ruled that a 35% stake in Smilegate, valued at about 2.5tr won, must be transferred to his wife Lee Hwa-jin, along with an additional 65bn won in cash. This settlement exceeds the previous record of 944bn won paid by tech titan Chey Tae-won to his ex-wife. Lee sought a 50% stake in Smilegate, claiming she helped finance the company at its founding. Kwon argued that Lee did not invest or work for the company, citing Smilegate’s statement that all initial capital came from him. Lee also highlighted her 20 years of child-rearing and household management. Both parties can still appeal the ruling. Earlier, Chey Tae-won’s settlement was overturned by the Supreme Court due to miscalculations in asset valuation.
Source: BBC
