[Exclusive] SK Biopharm's '1.6 Billion Jackpot'... 1 in 5 Employees Resigns

On the afternoon of the 2nd of last month, when SK Biopharm was newly listed, a stock price graph was displayed on the Infomax monitor in Jongno-gu, Seoul. On that day, SK Biopharm surged to the price limit increase of 29.59% compared to the opening price, closing at 127,000 won.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The number of SK Biopharm employees who resigned after making a fortune from company stocks is reported to be around 40, much higher than the initially estimated 10. This accounts for about 20% of the total workforce. At SK Biopharm, there was even an incident where the company tried to delay severance pay but backed down due to employee backlash.

According to industry sources on the 13th, SK Biopharm recently sent an internal email to employees scheduled to resign between the 1st and 15th of this month, notifying them that severance pay would be paid 3 to 4 weeks after the resignation date. According to the Labor Standards Act and the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits, unless there is an agreement to extend the payment deadline with the resigned employee, severance pay and allowances must be paid within 14 days from the resignation date. One employee scheduled to resign protested, saying, "The company unilaterally notified us of the delay in severance pay without any consultation."

After SK Biopharm's stock price surged following its listing, about 40 employees, roughly 20% of the total, applied for resignation to realize capital gains. This is four times the initially reported figure of around 10. An SK Biopharm employee said, "Out of 207 employees, at least 40 have expressed their intention to resign," adding, "The figure of around 10 reported elsewhere is a significant understatement."

A total of 207 employees, including six executives, are eligible to receive company stocks at SK Biopharm. On average, SK Biopharm employees were allocated 11,820 shares each as company stock. The average investment principal was 579.18 million KRW. It is known that team leaders received more than 20,000 shares. The closing price the day before was 191,000 KRW, nearly four times the public offering price of 49,000 KRW. Based on the previous day's price, the capital gains per person exceed 1.6 billion KRW.

SK Biopharm also notified via email that "to sell company stocks, it takes about a week starting from the 17th, not immediately after resignation." Company stocks are subject to a one-year lock-up period after listing, making immediate profit realization impossible. However, after resignation, the stocks are credited to the employee's account one month later. With SK Biopharm's stock price recently declining, the longer this process takes, the more the potential capital gains may decrease.

Facing strong backlash against this policy, SK Biopharm has stepped back. A company representative stated, "We cannot confirm whether the HR team sent the email to those scheduled to resign, but severance pay will be paid within 14 days from the resignation date according to the law."

Currently, the stocks allocated to SK Biopharm employees are registered under the company stock association's name at the Korea Securities Depository. To sell these stocks, employees must transfer the stocks from the association's name to their own name. This process takes about a month. The company has agreed with the association to convert stocks to individual names for retirees once or twice a month. An SK Biopharm representative explained, "We informed employees in advance that the procedure would be conducted on specific days monthly, not on an ad hoc basis whenever someone resigns."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.