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A South Korean court ordered billionaire SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his former wife more than $640 million in a divorce settlement that could force him to sell assets, borrow money or pledge shares as collateral.
The Seoul High Court ruled Friday that Chey must pay Roh Soh-yeong 944 billion won (about $645 million), marking the largest divorce asset award in South Korean history. It’s been dubbed the so-called “divorce of the century.”
The payout is substantially lower than the 1.38 trillion (about $935 million) won awarded by an appeals court in 2024, but the revised judgment has renewed investor scrutiny of Chey’s holdings and how he could finance the payment.
Chey Tae-won, the chairman of SK Group semiconductor and memory chip company SK Hynix. (Angelina Katsanis/Reuters)
Analysts said Chey may need to sell assets or borrow against his shares, though they do not expect the award to threaten his control of SK Group.
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Chey owns a 17.9% stake in SK Inc., the conglomerate’s holding company, and has an estimated fortune of $5.4 billion, according to Forbes.
The court ordered Chey to make the payment in cash rather than transfer stock, citing the importance of his shares to maintaining control of the conglomerate.
Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, center, and Kwak Noh-jung, president and chief executive officer of SK Hynix Inc., center left, and Koh Seung-beom, chairman of SK Hynix Inc., center right, ring the opening bell during the company’s initial public (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Shares of SK Inc. closed 3.8% lower Friday, while SK Hynix fell 8.3% in Seoul trading following the ruling.
SK Group’s profile has risen sharply during the artificial intelligence boom through SK Hynix, a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used with Nvidia’s AI processors.
Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, in New York City. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Judges awarded Roh one-third of the couple’s marital property after finding that she contributed to preserving and increasing the family’s wealth during the marriage.
The ruling followed a South Korean Supreme Court decision rejecting claims that alleged financial support from Roh’s father, former President Roh Tae-woo, should be included in the asset calculation.
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Either side may appeal the ruling, potentially sending the property-division dispute back to the Supreme Court.
Reuters contributed to this report.