KT Small Shareholders Raising Their Voices... Pushing to Establish a Nonprofit Corporation

On the 31st, shareholders are entering the meeting hall at the KT shareholders' meeting held at the KT Research and Development Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

As the management vacuum at KT continues, small shareholders are forming a corporation and preparing for collective action.

On the 29th, Bae, the operator of the Naver cafe 'KT Shareholders' Meeting,' a small shareholders' group of KT, announced plans to establish a non-profit corporation ahead of the extraordinary shareholders' meetings scheduled for June and August.

As of early this month, about 4.22 million shares, approximately 1.61% of KT's total issued shares of 261,111,808, are participating in the KT Shareholders' Meeting.

Bae explained the reason for establishing the corporation, saying, "The voices of small shareholders are not being reflected in the company's decision-making," and "We judged that at the cafe level, there is no part that can be recognized within the legal framework."

Currently, the KT Shareholders' Meeting is discussing with other shareholders the plan to establish a non-profit corporation to maximize shareholder value, oppose parachute appointments, and secure representation for individual shareholders.

So far, small shareholders have been advocating for the company to expand shareholder return policies and amend the articles of incorporation to prevent 'parachute appointments.' In particular, Bae attended last month's regular shareholders' meeting and requested, "Please reflect in the extraordinary shareholders' meeting or future shareholders' meetings the articles of incorporation that prevent political figures (non-experts) from participating in KT management."

Earlier, KT attempted to appoint Yoon Kyung-rim, Head of the Group Transformation Division (President), as CEO at last month's regular shareholders' meeting, but the appointment was canceled after Yoon resigned due to opposition from the ruling party and major shareholders such as the National Pension Service.

Park Jong-wook, Head of the Management Planning Division (President), is acting as the representative and has formed an emergency management committee. Five external experts were recommended by major shareholders to form the 'New Governance Establishment Task Force' (TF). The TF is discussing governance restructuring plans and is reportedly recently selecting Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as an advisory firm.

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