Exclusive
As ‘Won Soju’ popularity fades… All board members excluding Jay Park, including DJ Pumkin, resign

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that DJ Pumkin (real name Kim Soo-hyuk) has resigned as an executive director of Won Spirits. Won Spirits is a liquor company founded by singer Jay Park, which launched ‘Won Soju’ in 2022.

The original executive directors of Won Spirits were Jay Park, DJ Pumkin, Culture & Commerce CEO Kim Hyung-seop, and director Son Ho. Among them, Jay Park served as the CEO of Won Spirits. Additionally, DJ Pumkin and Culture & Commerce held direct equity stakes in Won Spirits. According to the audit report, the shareholder structure of Won Spirits as of the end of 2023 was: △CEO Jay Park 43% △Culture & Commerce 36% △TA Ventures 11% △DJ Pumkin 10%.

According to the corporate registry, it was confirmed that three people—DJ Pumkin, CEO Kim Hyung-seop, and director Son Ho—resigned as executive directors of Won Spirits this past May. This means that all board members except for CEO Jay Park have resigned. Around the same time, More Vision executive director Yoo Myung-hyun was newly appointed as an executive director of Won Spirits. More Vision is the entertainment agency to which CEO Jay Park belongs.

DJ Pumkin was an early member of AOMG. AOMG is an entertainment agency established by CEO Jay Park in 2013. CEO Park sold 51% of AOMG's stake to CJ ENM035760 in 2016. CEO Park subsequently sold his remaining 24.5% stake in AOMG to CJ ENM in 2021, and he no longer holds any stake in AOMG. DJ Pumkin took office as the CEO of AOMG in December 2021 and stepped down upon the expiration of his term in March 2024. DJ Pumkin has since left AOMG and is currently active as the CEO of Doover Entertainment. Doover Entertainment has no direct relationship with CEO Jay Park.

Meanwhile, Won Spirits gained attention in 2022 with the launch of Won Soju. Initially, Won Soju was sold exclusively at GS25 convenience stores. According to GS25, Won Soju surpassed 1 million bottles in cumulative sales just two months after its launch. The domestic soju market is dominated by Lotte Chilsung005300 and HiteJinro000080, and some in the liquor industry had predicted at the time that Won Spirits would impact this duopoly.

However, it is known that Won Soju's recent sales figures are not what they used to be. Won Spirits recorded 27.8 billion KRW in revenue and 10.7 billion KRW in operating profit in 2022. However, in 2023, the company saw sluggish performance compared to the previous year, with 13.2 billion KRW in revenue and 500 million KRW in operating profit. In 2024, it even lost its obligation for a financial audit. Under current law, companies are subject to financial audits if they meet at least two of the following criteria: △revenue of 10 billion KRW or more, △100 or more employees, △assets of 12 billion KRW or more, or △liabilities of 7 billion KRW or more. The loss of the audit obligation is interpreted as a reduction in the scale of the company.

The future outlook for Won Spirits is not bright either. The buzz surrounding Won Soju has faded, and the liquor industry itself faces a poor outlook due to the economic downturn. Recently, both Lotte Chilsung and HiteJinro also reported sluggish performance in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Kim Tae-hyun, a researcher at IBK Securities, stated, “(The soju market) is expected to see negative growth due to a contraction in the dining-out economy,” and added, “Raising soju prices seems difficult due to the government’s stance on price stabilization.”

BizHankook contacted Won Spirits to ask for the reason behind the resignation of executive directors such as DJ Pumkin, but did not receive a response.