Artist United Refutes Insider Trading Allegations
Dec 11, 2024
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On the 11th, Artist United announced its position on its official website. "When the Financial Services Commission opened its investigation on December 3, we were informed by investigators that the company's internal executives and major shareholders had no allegations regarding the use of undisclosed information and requested the company to cooperate with the data as undisclosed circumstances were detected from the outside."We also conveyed that we would cooperate sincerely, but we requested that the investigation be carried out quickly so that there is no disruption to our work. There was no noise in the process, and all the requested data were faithfully provided" he complained of unfairness.
In the process, the Company conducted a company-wide internal audit of current and former employees and confirmed that there were no illegal activities related to prior sale or the use of undisclosed information. In addition, we confirmed that there was no information provision or business negligence regarding the suspicion of using undisclosed external information"Rebutting that there are no allegations regarding the alleged use of undisclosed information, the Company intends to correct the facts as the Company and its major shareholders reported in certain media as if they were involved in manipulating the market price or manipulating the stock price, causing serious damage to the company and its shareholder value," he stressed.
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Meanwhile, the artist company led by Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung merged with Artist United in November. As a result, Lee Jung-jae, an in-house director of the artist company, became the largest shareholder of Artist United last year.
The stock price of the artist company and artist United, where he is the largest shareholder, has also risen significantly as Lee Jung-jae's next film, 「Squid Game 2」, was recently nominated for the 82nd awards ceremony nomination announced by Golden Globe organizers.
▶Artist United's official position specialized
A rebuttal to the New Daily article dated December 11, 2024
It was reported that the New Daily launched a full-fledged investigation into the alleged pre-sale of Artist United on December 6th, and since then, the New Daily has released three follow-up reports alone until December 11th, and various speculations and suspicions related to the report have disrupted the company's work day after day due to media and shareholder responses.
On December 6 and December 9, stock prices fell sharply to 19.73% and 24.58%, respectively, and the damage is being passed on to good shareholders. In addition, the company is in the process of merging with the artist company, so there is a concern that this decline in stock prices will adversely affect the merger. The merger is a major decision-making issue for the company to overcome the recent business deficit of the DSP (Demand Side Platform) division and increase the financial soundness and management properties of the company by combining the management and production business of the artist company.
Therefore, we would like to prevent further confusion by correcting the distorted facts in the whole story and media reports of the Financial Services Commission's investigation process.
When the Financial Services Commission opened its investigation on December 3, investigators learned that the company's internal executives and major shareholders had no allegations regarding the use of undisclosed information and requested the company to cooperate with the data as undisclosed circumstances were detected outside. Accordingly, we also conveyed that we would cooperate faithfully, but requested that the investigation be carried out quickly so that there is no disruption to our work. There was no noise in the process, and all the requested data were faithfully provided.
In the process, the company conducted a company-wide internal audit of former and current executives and employees and confirmed that there were no illegal activities related to prior sales and the use of undisclosed information. In addition, we confirmed that there was no information provision or business negligence regarding the suspicion of using undisclosed external information.
As such, despite no allegations regarding the alleged use of undisclosed information, the Company and its major shareholders report in certain media as if they were related to market price manipulation or stock price manipulation, causing serious damage to the company and its shareholder value.
The New Daily's Dec. 6 report reports that the artist company, which has two actors, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung, as in-house directors, was raided with the title `Search and Search of 5 Companies at the same time for Suspicion of Using Unpublic Information,' but the artist company is not actually under investigation. In addition, the company is faithfully cooperating with the relevant authorities in the form of voluntary submission, not seizure and search. However, in the New Daily's article, we and the artist company are mistaken as suspects with allegations. In addition, the Financial Services Commission's investigation is not true as it investigates the fact that a certain force has discovered the acquisition of Lee Jung-jae in advance and has deliberately boosted the stock price by highlighting it as a political theme stock.
In a Dec. 7 report, "Hidden shadow of alleged manipulation of the stock price of Wythe Planet…" What's Lee Jung Jae and Jung Woo Sung's 'Kkaboo'?Park In-gyu, former CEO of Wizwick Studio, Lee Jung-jae, and Jung Woo-sung, major shareholders of the company, reported as if they were suspected or under investigation, but this investigation is about an outsider's use of undisclosed information, and major shareholders have no charges and are not subject to investigation. In addition, he borrowed the words of an anonymous capital market expert and used the expression `I have benefited enormously by using the Pearl of Lee Jung-jae and Han Dong-hoon' and investors such as Lee Jung-jae, Jung Woo-sung, and Park In-kyu have not yet taken any economic gains because they have been under protection for a year.
In a Dec. 9 report "Lee Jung-jae's partner who also appears in the dispute over managerial control of Laemmongraeans…" The company raised suspicions about the relationship with KOSDAQ-listed companies 'Green Bam Media' along with the article that it is a growing suspicion on the 'Hidden Cartel', but neither the company nor its major shareholders have any relationship with 'Green Bam Media' and have never proposed an acquisition. We have submitted a letter of intent (LOI) to confirm that it has been put up for sale on the market and to understand its financial position, but we have not delivered the specific acquisition amount nor reached the stage of contract discussion. As stated in the article, the fact that the company proposed to acquire Green Bam Media with 20 billion won in cash from Raemongraein is a clear false fact.
Capital market experts suspect a corporate hunter in the context of using the company's funds to promote the so-called `spin prevention' M&A rather than expanding or strengthening the business after acquiring the companiesCiting extremely subjective opinions such as ", Lee Jung-jae and other investors invested all of their common shares in a paid-in capital increase method when acquiring Wythe Planet (now Artist United), which had a significant positive impact on the company's capital expansion and financial soundness, and later, based on its financial power, it distributed two films ('She's Dead', '1 Win') and co-produced one drama film, focusing on expanding and strengthening its business. There was not a single acquisition or merger except for the acquisition of the artist studio (formerly Dreamer).
The Dec. 11 report highlights the investigation into other companies or executives of other companies not directly related to the Company and reports speculative phrases as if they were related to the Company or its major shareholders, along with the provocative title "'WythePlanet Stock Price Manipulation Game'...Unconvenient Eyes on Com2uS Group.
In addition, the company's stock price has fallen since the news of the seizure search broke, and shareholders are complaining of anxiety, using the phrase that there are many complaints about the merger, and only some posts were reported biased on Naver's stock discussion room as if all shareholders were against the merger. Even though the media company requires a public interest without confirming any objective facts, it reported speculative posts such as "'A merger will triple the market capitalization' and 'Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung will make a big hit.'"
These malicious and severe distortion reports have put the company in a precarious situation, regardless of the company's intrinsic value and business direction, between near-low and near-high stock price declines over the past few business days. Good shareholders are also complaining of anxiety and making various inquiries to the company, causing disruptions to the company's main work.
The company is also taking the situation very seriously from the perspective of responding to risks such as falling stock prices and the collapse of the merger due to malicious media reports, and we promise to take all legal measures and efforts, including civil and criminal measures, even considering the shareholders who will suffer damage.
Dear Artist United shareholders, We will continue to do our best to actively respond to threats to shareholder value and continue to increase shareholder value.
Thank you.
ARTIST UNITED DREAM, Inc
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
