Selena Gomez is under scrutiny after reports emerged that she has failed to pay the wages of her company employees and has been unable to pay external vendors thousands of dollars, culminating in large-scale layoffs.
According to a Forbes report on 12th, local time, Selena Gomez, a singer and actress who co-founded the mental health startup "Wondermind," has laid off 9 employees, which is 60% of the total staff of 15.
Previously, Gomez founded Wondermind in 2022 with her mother Mandy Teefey and others to elevate mental health issues to social discourse.
However, multiple employees revealed through Forbes that "the company has not paid salaries for several weeks," also exposing that the unpaid amounts owed to freelancers and external collaborators total tens of thousands of dollars. One collaborating public relations firm reportedly has an outstanding balance of about $60,000 (Hanwha approximately 80 million won).
Furthermore, according to an internal meeting recording obtained by Forbes, co-founder Teefey directly mentioned, "I took out a loan using my house as collateral to run the company." Some employees reported that they even did not receive their paychecks on April 30, and they have not been refunded for health insurance premiums that the company had previously stated were paid.
Additionally, benefits have already been suspended. Teefey informed in an email dated March 31 that the medical service provider Sequoia has terminated benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance. The reason given was "delays in the influx of investor funds," but Forbes reported that numerous testimonies confirm that "the company has failed to secure investments."
Wondermind raised $5 million (approximately 670 million won) from famous investors in 2022, valuing the corporation at $100 million (approximately 134.7 billion won). However, subsequent investment rounds have failed, and reports have emerged that some founders contributed $8 million (approximately 107 billion won) out of their own pockets.
Currently, Gomez holds the title of Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) at Wondermind, but there have been internal disclosures indicating she has been hardly involved in actual management. A current employee claimed to Forbes, "She has only shown her face at the company once in the last three years." In contrast, Wondermind's side rebutted this by saying it is "absolutely not true."
Meanwhile, Selena Gomez is estimated to have assets of $700 million (approximately 940 billion won) due to the success of her cosmetics brand "Rare Beauty."
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