NewJeans' Source was SAUCE"... Min Hee-jin's Self-Contradictory Claims
NewJeans' Source was SAUCE"... Min Hee-jin's Self-Contradictory Claims
Minji joined 'SAUCE Music' in 2017, while Hanni entered in 2019. They both passed the global audition hosted by BigHit and SAUCE Music.
Haerin and Danielle signed trainee contracts in 2020. The last member, Hyein, was discovered online. She passed the audition and sealed the deal with SAUCE Music.
Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle, and Hyein were all resources handpicked by CEO So Sung-jin. They received training at SAUCE Music until the second half of 2021.
Min Hee-jin transferred to HYBE in 2019. Her role was Chief Brand Officer (CBO), overseeing the branding of all HYBE subsidiaries.
- She plans to lead the creative directing of multiple labels and launch a new girl group.
- Separately, she also aims to establish a new label to expand her capabilities in discovering new talent and music production." (HYBE press release)
Min Hee-jin was originally supposed to prepare a debut team for SAUCE Music. However, she prioritized becoming the head of her own independent label.
This led to the birth of 'ADOR'.
Min Hee-jin selected trainees from SAUCE Music.
She transferred Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle, Hyein, and others to her label. In return, she paid SAUCE for their training costs up to that point.
Is Min Hee-jin the mother of NewJeans? It's true that she brought them into the world and crafted them better than anyone else.
However, it was So Sung-jin who birthed them. They were the children he had nurtured for up to three years or more.
Of course, no one can dispute Min Hee-jin's contributions. She recreated the Y2K sensibility in a modern way and perfected the Korean-style easy listening with 250 (EO-gong)
As a result, Min Hee-jin was also rewarded. In the first quarter of 2023, HYBE's board allowed her to purchase existing shares of ADOR at a low price instead of stock options.
Consequently, Min Hee-jin now holds an 18% stake in ADOR (573,160 shares), becoming the second-largest shareholder. From her perspective, this was a strategic move to avoid a 45% tax.
It's worth noting that ADOR is an unlisted company. At the time Min Hee-jin received the shares, ADOR was operating at a loss. In 2022, their revenue was 18.6 billion won, with an operating loss of 4 billion won.
If Min Hee-jin had received stock options, she would have had to pay a 45% tax at the point of acquisition. However, by receiving shares of a loss-making company, she saved on taxes.
Moreover, stock options can only be exercised during employment. If Min Hee-jin attempts to become independent, her stock options would disappear. However, with shares, she can freely sell them.
Min Hee-jin also has a put option (sell-back right). It's the right to sell back the shares at a mutually agreed price. The estimated size of the put option contract with HYBE is roughly in the 100 billion won range.
In an interview last year, Min Hee-jin said, "At the time, I received investment proposals of similar scale from other places, so there was no reason it had to be HYBE."
There's a contradiction in her statement. She is a beneficiary of the HYBE system. The NewJeans members also utilized HYBE's trainee pool. She didn't discover them from the streets but selected them from SAUCE.
The success of NewJeans can be attributed to Min Hee-jin's efforts. Conversely, if they had failed, HYBE would have had to bear the debt entirely. In other words, the glory of NewJeans is not hers alone to claim.
