[경제]’Differential voting rights’ second coupang comes out…

[앵커]

As the founder of Coupang, who successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States, was granted differential voting rights, voices in the business world that Korea is now ripe for adoption have increased.

In order to foster venture companies, the government is planning to promote differential voting only to unlisted companies, but concerns over side effects have been raised again in the course of recent discussions at the National Assembly.

Reporter Lee Kwang-yeop.

[기자]

Coupang founder Kim Beom-seok, chairman of the board of directors, who successfully debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, secured a whopping 77% of the voting rights despite a 10% stake.

This is because it holds 100% of Class B common stocks with differential voting rights equivalent to 29 times that of regular stocks.

This is a full use of the New York Stock Market, which gives the founder the power to vote so that it can attract large amounts of money without worrying about losing control.

[김범석 / 쿠팡 이사회 의장 : (차등의결권) 그것도 저희가 활용할 수 있었던 여러 가지 중에 하나였기 때문에… 그렇지만 사실 이번에 가장 큰 상장 목표는 투자 유치였습니다. 그렇기 때문에 그 부분이 가장 큰 영향을 미쳤다고….]

All of the world’s five stock markets, including Hong Kong and Tokyo, allow companies with differential voting rights to be listed, but Korea is fundamentally disallowing it to prevent the concentration of economic power of large corporate groups.

It is pointed out that if Korea is not in a hurry to implement this system, it is inevitable for top Korean companies to go public directly abroad, where large-scale investments are collected.

[유정주 / 전경련 기업제도팀장 : 소수의 지분만 창업자가 들고 있으면 경영권을 행사할 수 있고, 나머지 지분은 상장을 통해서 자금 조달이 굉장히 쉬워지거든요. 그럼 그 자금을 가지고 기업 발전을 위해 여러 분야에 투자할 수 있고….]

The government recently pushed for an amendment to the Special Act on Promotion of Venture Businesses, which removes regulations to allow the issuance of multiple voting shares only for unlisted venture companies.

A’sunset clause’ was also put in place so that if a multi-voting company goes public later, it will be converted to ordinary common stock after three years.

However, we decided to hold a public hearing first, raising the question that strengthening the power of controlling shareholders will eventually make it difficult to protect individual investors.

[류호정 / 정의당 의원(지난 8일, 국회 산자중기위 : 차등 의결권도입은 사회 전반에 미칠 영향이 커서 신중한 논의가 필요하고 따라서 상임위 차원에서 전문가들의 의견을 듣고 토론할 수 있는 기회가 충분히 보장돼야 한다고 말씀드린 바 있습니다.]

The government believes that the environment should be prepared so that venture companies that will lead the Korean economy through the development of new technologies can more freely receive large-scale investments and concentrate on corporate activities.

Therefore, if consensus is formed on the control mechanism and transparency that the largest shareholder cannot take private interests, the possibility that Korea will introduce a limited amount of differential voting rights will increase soon.

YTN Lee Kwang-yeop[[email protected]]is.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]