None of the 4 interviewees had a political relationship
Possibility of non-approval of candidates at the general meeting of shareholders
Up to the prospect of the resignation of four candidates
Sudden resignation of one outside director
2 trillion evaporation of market capitalization due to long noise
KT plans to select the final candidate for the next CEO as planned on the 7th despite the political outburst. After the board of directors nominated all four candidates from KT, the ruling party lawmakers openly criticized it, so there were speculations that the selection of the final candidates and the schedule for appointment of the representative, such as the shareholders’ meeting, would be disrupted. The worst-case scenario is also spreading in KT’s ‘go straight’. It is said that the final candidate selected by the board of directors may be rejected at the shareholders’ meeting, resulting in an unprecedented situation called ‘representative vacancy’.
A KT official said, “As scheduled, the CEO Candidate Review Committee will conduct interviews for four candidates on the 7th, and the board of directors will finalize and announce the final candidates on the same day.” According to the commercial law, KT must hold a shareholders’ meeting within March. To this end, information such as the resolution and agenda for the general meeting of shareholders must be notified to shareholders by the 16th, two weeks in advance.
On the 2nd, members of the Science and Technology Information Broadcasting and Communications Committee of the National Assembly, including Rep. Park Seong-joong, held a press conference and held a press conference and held a press conference, former Corporate Division Head (President) Park Yoon-young, Lim Heon-moon, former Mass General Manager (President), Yoon Kyung-lim, Transformation Division Head (President), and Shin Soo-jeong, Enterprise Division Head. (Vice President) and other former and current KT executives were strongly criticized by mixing expressions such as “their own league” and “profit cartel.”
After the passport press conference, when KT announced that it would proceed with the final candidate selection schedule without change, this time, the observation that the final candidate may not be ratified by the chief executive gained strength. National Pension Service, the largest shareholder who opposes the appointment of a person from within KT, has only about 10% of the shares, but it is not easy for other major shareholders such as Hyundai Motor Group and Shinhan Financial Group to rebel against the ruling party.
If the shareholders’ meeting is held and the final candidate drops out, CEO Koo Hyun-mo, whose term of office is ‘from the elected shareholders’ meeting to the shareholders’ meeting three years later’ according to the articles of incorporation, must resign, and there will be no successor. However, according to the Articles of Incorporation, ‘In the event of the absence of the CEO and all inside directors, their duties shall be performed in the order prescribed by the organizational regulations’, and unregistered executives such as Kook-Hyun Kang, head of the Customer Division (President), are required to perform their duties.
The story of the ‘representative vacancy situation’ has flowed from the political world since the deadline for applications on the 20th of last month. The industry sees this as a ‘signal’ from the political world toward KT. An industry insider said, “It seems that the intensity of the press conference has been increased because the political world has been secretly sending signals, such as spreading strong rumors to the media, so the intended purpose did not come true.”
Coincidentally, it was reported that outside director Benjamin Hong suddenly expressed his resignation on the 6th, one day before the representative candidate was confirmed. There are also predictions that four candidates for interviews may resign en masse and the process may return to square one again.
Meanwhile, KT’s market cap, which exceeded 10 trillion won last year, evaporated by more than 2 trillion won as noise continued regarding the appointment of the CEO. In response, minority shareholders with a stake of 57% recently created a community and foreshadowed collective action.
Reporter Kim Min-seok
