This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 9:17 a.m. on Jan. 14, 2026.
JOYWORKS&Co, which had been growing on the back of a running boom, is groaning under successive setbacks. Former CEO Cho Seong-hwan was accused of assaulting employees of a subcontractor, leading Decker, the U.S. parent company, to terminate the distribution contract for the Hoka brand, and prior to that, the company reportedly purchased 37 unsold officetel units in the name of the wife of Kim Sang-jin, who is pointed to as the de facto owner, at prices far above market value.
However, suspicions have recently been raised that the purpose of that real estate transaction was to compensate other investors who participated when the de facto owner acquired JOYWORKS&Co. There are also claims that the acquisition was pursued in order to offload the real estate in the first place.
On the 14th, according to the investment banking industry and the Financial Supervisory Service electronic disclosure system, Ohim Investment Association, the second-largest shareholder of JOYWORKS&Co, and part of the stake of former CEO Na Hyung-kyun were sold last November and on the 2nd of this month to TwoPillars & Company and Cornerstones, respectively. The sale prices were 3,538 won and 3,616 won respectively, which, compared with the closing share prices of 2,050 won and 2,405 won on each transaction date, represent premiums of up to 70%.
TwoPillars & Company, which purchased the stake in that transaction, is a newly established corporation founded last November with capital of 5 million won. It is a paper company with no record of conducting actual business.
Industry sources say the reason they paid a high price for JOYWORKS&Co equity was the contract JOYWORKS made with investors, including former CEO Na, when JOYWORKS acquired JOYWORKS&Co (then Ohim Company). These investors had invested in JOYWORKS&Co alongside JOYWORKS and were granted a kind of put option to have their shares repurchased at a set price if JOYWORKS&Co stock did not rise as much as desired within a certain period.
A person familiar with the transaction said, "After the acquisition of JOYWORKS&Co, when the stock did not rise as expected, investors protested, and I understand it was decided to handle some investors' holdings within a set period."
JOYWORKS&Co (then Ohim Company), which was in the furniture manufacturing business, last July transferred convertible bonds (CB) held by Ohim Investment Association, the former largest shareholder, to JOYWORKS, and JOYWORKS became the largest shareholder by exercising conversion rights. The person who gathered investors in this process is known to be Chairman Kim. Chairman Kim is known to be the figure who effectively controls JOYWORKS&Co.
Granting put options while gathering investors for a corporate acquisition is not unusual. However, as JOYWORKS&Co has recently been embroiled in controversy over a high-price real estate purchase, allegations have arisen that the company used corporate funds to compensate investors' losses.
JOYWORKS&Co recently purchased officetel unit 37 in Suwon, Gyeonggi, owned by J& A Industrial Development for 15.3 billion won. The officetel was a unit that J& A Industrial Development, the developer, had tried to sell in 2021 but had remained unsold for about four years. J& A Industrial Development valued the property at 11.1 billion won. Even if the company's estimate is accurate, it effectively paid more than 4 billion won above market value for a distressed unsold officetel.
The companies involved in the real estate transaction are entwined by familial ties. J& A Industrial Development CEO Lee Su-mi is Kim's spouse. There are allegations that Kim solicited investors for the acquisition and then had the buyer purchase his wife's distressed company assets at inflated prices.
Given the situation, analysis has emerged that the company may have had corporate funds buy distressed unsold real estate and that the proceeds from that sale could have been used to compensate investors' losses.
A source in the capital markets industry said, "Considering that Chairman Kim and CEO Lee are family, it is hard to rule out the possibility that proceeds from the real estate sale flowed back to investors," and added, "Wouldn't the promise to compensate investors' losses have been possible because the real estate sale had been prepared in advance?"
However, JOYWORKS&Co said the allegation of an overpriced officetel purchase is untrue. According to the appraisal received at the time of purchase, the value was higher than the purchase price, and the company said it decided to buy the officetel for use as a logistics warehouse while preparing to open stores in the provinces. The company also emphasized that Chairman Kim is entirely unrelated to company management and that the claim he is the de facto owner is a one-sided assertion by some forces seeking control of the company.
Alongside the controversy over the high-price real estate purchase, JOYWORKS&Co faced criticism that former CEO Cho Seong-hwan verbally and physically assaulted the head and staff of a subcontractor. As a result of the incident, former CEO Cho resigned from the CEO position, and Decker, the U.S. parent company that owns the Hoka brand, terminated its distribution contract with JOYWORKS. JOYWORKS&Co had paid JOYWORKS 25 billion won and acquired Hoka's offline retail business division.