Record $1.87 Billion Divorce: South Korean Tycoon Gives Ex-Wife a Third of His Empire

A South Korean court has ordered gaming tycoon Kwon Hyuk-bin to pay his former wife 2.55 trillion won — approximately $1.87 billion. It is the largest divorce settlement in South Korean history, the BBC reports.

Kwon Hyuk-bin is the founder of Smilegate, one of South Korea’s largest video game developers and the country’s third-largest gaming company. According to Bloomberg, the entrepreneur’s fortune is estimated at around $3 billion.

Until now, Smilegate was wholly owned by Kwon. But on Wednesday, a court ruled that his former wife, Lee Hwa-jin, should receive a 35% stake in the company worth approximately 2.5 trillion won. The businessman must also pay her an additional 65 billion won in cash.

The total awarded to Lee Hwa-jin is therefore more than twice the previous record in South Korea — 944 billion won.

That record was previously held by technology tycoon Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group. He was ordered to pay that amount to his former wife.

When she filed for divorce, Lee Hwa-jin initially sought half of Smilegate’s shares. According to Bloomberg, her lawyers argued that she had helped finance the company during its early stages.

Kwon and Lee married in 2001, a year before the entrepreneur founded Smilegate.

The company would go on to create some of South Korea’s most successful video game titles, including the first-person shooter CrossFire and the action RPG Lost Ark.

Lee Hwa-jin also claimed that for more than 20 years she had raised the couple’s children and managed the household.

Kwon disagreed. He argued that his former wife had neither invested money in the company nor worked there.

Earlier this year, Smilegate issued a statement emphasizing that all of the company’s initial capital had been provided exclusively by Kwon.

A Smilegate representative declined to comment on the “personal affairs of the company’s major shareholder.”

The case is not over yet, however: both sides have the right to appeal the court’s decision.

The previous record-breaking divorce also turned out not to be final.

In July, Chey Tae-won was ordered to pay his former wife 944 billion won. Before the latest ruling, it was the largest amount ever awarded in a South Korean divorce.

However, the Supreme Court later overturned the decision, citing a calculation error that had inflated the value of the couple’s joint assets.

Chey Tae-won’s case has now been sent back for a retrial.

Kwon Hyuk-bin’s divorce, meanwhile, has already gone down in South Korean history as the country’s most expensive, involving a $1.87 billion settlement and the transfer of a huge stake in his gaming empire to his former wife.