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Hyundai Card Sells Entire Stake in Modern Lion Held by Subsidiary Blue Walnut

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Hyundai Card has sold its entire stake in Modern Lion. Modern Lion is the corporation that operates the non-fungible token (NFT) platform ‘KONKRIT.’ The IT industry is reacting with confusion. This is because Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young has consistently shown interest in NFTs, and given that Hyundai Card's financial performance is on an upward trend, there is no pressing need for the company to dispose of assets in a hurry.

Hyundai Card established Modern Lion in 2022 as a joint venture (JV) with the edutech firm 'Like Lion' to pursue a new NFT business. At the time, Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young stated, "I believe it is important to have an attitude of active collaboration on equal footing when large corporations and startups pursue new business together," adding, "Hyundai Card and Like Lion will do our best to maximize synergy by mobilizing all the capabilities of both companies."

Modern Lion has maintained a significant presence. In 2023, it developed the comprehensive NFT platform 'KONKRIT' and sold tickets for exhibitions and performances such as 'Hyundai Card Da Vinci Motel,' 'Hyundai Card Curated 92 Jang Beom-june: Silent Rain Falls,' and 'Urban Chronicles: American Color Photography.'

In March of this year, it filed for a new trademark called ‘Jet Market.’ This led to analysis that Modern Lion would develop a specialized NFT ticket sales platform under that name (Related article: Hyundai Card and Like Lion JV 'Modern Lion' to launch new NFT platform 'Jet Market'). However, the trademark application was abruptly withdrawn in May of this year.

Hyundai Card held a 41% stake in Modern Lion through its subsidiary Blue Walnut. Blue Walnut is a company fully owned by Hyundai Card. However, Bizhankook's investigation confirmed that Blue Walnut recently sold its entire stake in Modern Lion. Following this, Yoo Soo-jin, an executive director at Hyundai Card, also resigned from her position as an auditor at Modern Lion. Hyundai Card did not disclose the specific buyer.

The industry is reacting with skepticism. NFTs are a business that Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young pursued out of personal interest. In September 2023, at the ‘Domain Galaxy Council,’ Vice Chairman Chung remarked, "We are working to incorporate new technologies such as NFTs and ChatGPT, and to advance the data and infrastructure held by Hyundai Card and all our partners, with the goal of fostering the growth of our Domain Galaxy partners."

Modern Lion is known to have recorded billions of won in losses every year. Considering the scale of Hyundai Card, this is not an unmanageable level. Hyundai Card is also not in a difficult enough situation to necessitate selling assets; its performance is on the rise. According to quarterly reports, Hyundai Card's net profit increased by 6.20% from 240.1 billion won in the first three quarters of last year to 255 billion won in the same period this year.

Regarding this, a Hyundai Card official stated only, "We sold the stake we held through an agreement with Modern Lion."