Upstage CEO Kim Sung-hoon said there is no equity held now regarding the controversy over Upstage equity ownership involving former presidential office AI future planning senior secretary Ha Jung-woo.
He also drew a line under the so-called "stock parking" suspicion that surfaced during the public office appointment process, saying there is no remaining relationship between the company and the shareholder.
At a media day held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 16th, when asked whether the former senior secretary is currently an Upstage shareholder, CEO Kim answered, "Not a single share." He added, "My understanding is that everything has been liquidated," and said, "From the company's standpoint, the former senior secretary and Upstage have no relationship whatsoever as shareholders."
The controversy was raised over how the former senior secretary handled the Upstage shares held when taking public office. According to Upstage, the former senior secretary served in 2021 as a part-time AI education adviser to the company and was granted 10,000 shares at par as compensation. Under the Public Service Ethics Act, 5,556 shares that had met the mandatory holding period were placed in a blind trust, and 4,444 shares that had not met the period were returned at par to CEO Kim, the largest shareholder, under a shareholders' agreement, the company said.
Upstage has explained that the shares in question are contractually restricted so they cannot be disposed of at CEO Kim's personal discretion and may only be used for talent recruitment and employee compensation. The company also said of the previously raised "fire sale" or "stock parking" suspicions that it was "an automatic return procedure under the contract."
With CEO Kim again stating directly that there is no equity held, Upstage appears to be moving to head off controversy related to the former senior secretary. As Upstage is regarded as one of Korea's leading AI startups, backed by its in-house large language model (LLM) "Solar" and document AI business, it is wary of the equity relationship controversy with a political figure spilling over into a business credibility issue.
Upstage is currently touting the Solar LLM and document automation solutions as its core businesses.