The stock price of the medical artificial intelligence (AI) corporation Lunit fell about 7% on the morning of the 18th due to the effects of executives and major shareholders disposing of some of their shares through an after-hours block trade. In response, the founder and chairman of the board, Baek Seung-wook, and CEO Seo Beom-seok bought a total of 6 billion won worth of 7,747 shares in the market to defend against the decline.
Lunit announced on the 18th that some of the shares held by company executives and major shareholders were sold to a U.S.-based long fund management company through a block trade. According to the announcement, Executive Director Park Hyun-seong, Director Lee Jeong-in, Executive Director Park Seung-kyun, Executive Director Yoo Dong-geun, and Executive Director Paeng Kyung-hyun sold a total of 64,156 common shares at 77,934 won. With this sale, the equity held by the executives and major shareholders decreased from 11.56% to 10.24%.
The company said this stock sale was carried out for personal reasons, such as repaying loans. According to the company, some of Lunit's executives had previously taken high-interest loans to secure funds for subscriptions during a paid capital increase of about 200 billion won aimed at expanding the global market last year.
On this day, Chairman Baek Seung-wook and CEO Seo Beom-seok purchased 7,747 shares of Lunit. This move is seen as a way to alleviate shareholder anxiety resulting from the block trade and to demonstrate confidence in the company's growth. Chairman Baek is the founder who established Lunit in 2013, while CEO Seo has been in the position since 2018 after joining the company in 2016. The company stated, "The recent stock purchases by Chairman Baek and CEO Seo reflect a strong belief that the company will continue to grow" and added that it is a measure to address shareholder concerns over the block trade sale and to actively respond to any potential decline in stock price.
Lunit emphasized, "As the shares sold this time were fully acquired by the U.S.-based long fund in anticipation of a stock price increase, it will lead to long-term investment." A representative from Lunit added, "The executives who partially disposed of shares this time are diligently working as division heads within the company, and the strengthening of research and development, development of next-generation new products, and expansion into global markets are proceeding without any setbacks."