A Seoul court has ordered Kwon Hyuk-bin, billionaire and founder of game company Smilegate, to pay assets worth about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to his ex-wife, marking the highest-value asset division in a divorce case in history.
On 9 September, the Seoul Family Court ruled that billionaire and Smilegate founder Kwon Hyuk-bin must transfer Smilegate shares valued at approximately 2.5 trillion won, representing a 35% stake, and pay an additional 65 billion won in cash to his ex-wife in the divorce case.
The asset value breaks the previous record set in the divorce case between Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and his ex-wife Noh So-young, where the court ordered asset division worth 944 billion won.
Kwon founded Smilegate in 2002 and developed it into one of South Korea’s most successful gaming companies.
The ex-wife, surnamed Lee, filed for divorce in November 2022, demanding half of Smilegate Holdings shares, arguing that she contributed to founding and managing the company in its early stages and supported him indirectly by caring for the home and family, thus deserving rights to her husband’s assets.
Although the court did not grant her the full half of shares requested, it ordered the transfer of a 35% stake in Smilegate along with a substantial cash payment, resulting in a record-breaking asset division value in the country.
Local media reported the court valued Kwon’s assets at as much as 8.016 trillion won, making this divorce one of the most closely watched asset division cases in South Korea.
The ruling also underscores a key issue in billionaire divorces: how much spousal contributions during the early stages of business formation are considered in asset division, shaking up South Korea’s business community.
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