News summary on the way home from work, Subsletter Evening.
Ryoo Young-joon, co-CEO of Kakao, has decided to resign voluntarily.
It has been a month since I was caught up in a controversy over 'eat-out' due to a stock option exercise.
Although the controversy over where to go has been settled, it seems that this "eat-and-distance" controversy has left a lot of homework for our corporate management.
Along with the Osstem Implant embezzlement incident at the beginning of the new year, it seems to be an example of why ESG management is important.
A storm after the eat-and-run controversy… voluntarily resigned
Kakao briefly announced the resignation of CEO Young-Jun Ryu, saying, "The Kakao Board of Directors has decided to accept this decision (with Ryu's resignation) after comprehensively considering the opinions of the crew (employees) through various channels."
Ryu is the CEO of Kakao Pay, and it has not been decided whether or not he will retain the position of CEO of Kakao Pay after his term ends in March.
Union "ESG moratorium"
The Kakao Branch of the National Chemical Fiber Food Industry Labor Union, I will call it the Kakao Union for convenience.
After the Kakao union announced the resignation of CEO Ryu, they issued a press release.
The union chairman said, "Although the block deal of former nominee Ryu Young-joon continued to be a problem, the past process of forcing the appointment is ultimately Kakao's declaration of an ESG moratorium (debt payment suspension or suspension). But it didn't work. Looking back over the past month, we failed to respond to the crisis."
Here, ESG is an acronym for 'Environment', 'Social' and 'Governance' and refers to non-financial factors such as environment, society, and governance.
It has been a while since corporate management became a topic of discussion as companies protecting the environment, fulfilling their social responsibilities, and improving corporate governance became important for sustainable management.
However, the Kakao union diagnosed this ESG moratorium, that is, bankruptcy.
Kakao once received an A grade in the ESG evaluation conducted by MSCI, a global investment information provider. In particular, it received a high rating of 'A+' in the social sector and 'A' in the governance structure. This evaluation has become overshadowed by the fact that the governance structure cannot be regarded as transparent.
What is the problem?
There are many cases in which venture companies provide stock options to their employees and employees sell stock options to make a profit.
If a manager in charge of corporate management sells a large amount of 440,000 shares at once, it is obvious that the stock price will fall.
In terms of responsible management, criticism is also high. Kakao Pay succeeded in listing on the KOSPI after three rounds by presenting a mega global investment bank (IB) through financial innovation as a blueprint for the future.
Then, CEO Ryu had to show performance, and he sold a large amount of stock options within a month of listing.
Moreover, it was the same day that it was incorporated into the KOSPI 200 at this time.
As a result, there are criticisms that the management is not concerned with responsible management or enhancing shareholder value, but only aimed at immediate profits.
From an ESG point of view, it is difficult to find the S and G, that is, efforts to improve social responsibility and governance, for the executives of financial companies who profess to innovate.
In particular, he was thinking about improving the governance structure, and he would not have neglected the protection of shareholder rights.
So, as the union said, it is an 'ESG moratorium'.
Osstem Implant embezzlement is not something to be seen as an individual deviation
The Osstem Implant embezzlement case shows that ESG management is still far away from our corporate climate.
In the case of an employee embezzling close to 200 billion won of company money, the lack of internal and external monitoring systems or the opacity of accounting were raised as issues.
There are workshops with or without upper-level intervention, but if it turns out that the chairman or the management did it, a serious management blow to Osstem Implant is inevitable, and furthermore, it may lead to a decline in the image of a Korean company.
It is not only unfair to say that the so-called 'Korea discount' in which the stock prices of Korean companies are undervalued, but it is worth considering whether there is such a backward corporate management system as the cause.
ESG management that makes a good company... global standard
ESG management can be said to be the management of creating a 'good company'.
It is also called sustainable management and is said to be becoming a global standard.
However, business owners may think that this is not right, but considering the consumption trend, it is not.
Consumers prefer companies that solve problems such as climate crisis, environmental pollution, labor environment risks, and closed governance, and they even launch a movement to consume products from ESG-managed companies.
This means that consumers are emerging as subjects, not objects, of ESG management.
Then, ESG management will ultimately help the company to make money.
a piece of the day
Today is not a photo, but an image captured from the Golden Globes website. It is about actor Oh Young-soo who won the Best Supporting Actor Award in the TV category at the American Golden Globe Awards.
"We're kanbu (slang for the same side in games such as playing marbles)", "This is how we all die" Do you remember the Netflix drama 'Squid Game'?
Congratulatory greetings are pouring in, and the political parties from the opposition and opposition parties have also sent congratulatory messages.