A court in South Korea has handed down the country’s biggest-ever divorce settlement, ordering video game tycoon Kwon Hyuk-bin to give his ex-wife assets worth 2.55 trillion won, or about $1.87 billion (£1.38 billion).
Kwon founded Smilegate, South Korea’s third-largest gaming company, known for titles like the shooter CrossFire and the role-playing game Lost Ark. Forbes-style estimates from Bloomberg put his personal fortune at around $3 billion.
Until this week, Kwon held the company outright. The court ruled that a 35% stake — worth roughly 2.5 trillion won ($1.83 billion) — must be transferred to his former wife, Lee Hwa-jin, along with an extra 65 billion won ($47.6 million) in cash.
Lee had asked for half the company, arguing through her lawyers that she helped bankroll Smilegate when it launched in 2002, a year after the couple married. She also said she spent more than two decades raising their children and running the household. Kwon countered that she never invested in or worked for the business, and Smilegate has said all of its founding capital came from him alone.
The ruling more than doubles the previous record, the 944 billion won ($690 million) settlement ordered for SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won earlier this year — a decision the Supreme Court later overturned over a calculation error. Both Kwon and Lee can still appeal.
You can read the original BBC report for more details.
Source: Tycoon to pay ex-wife $1.87bn in record South Korea divorce settlement (feeds.bbci.co.uk). English version produced with AI assistance.
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