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'Butler Gate' IMS Mobility writes off subsidiary Be My Concierge as impairment loss

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that IMS Mobility has written off its subsidiary, Be My Concierge, as an impairment loss. IMS Mobility is the company that Kim Ye-seong, known as the 'butler' to First Lady Kim Keon-hee, was involved in founding and managing. Be My Concierge is a premium ride-hailing service provider. It is reported that IMS Mobility had high expectations for Be My Concierge in the early 2020s, but ultimately, it failed to achieve significant results.

According to the audit report, IMS Mobility recorded an impairment loss on its subsidiary, Be My Concierge. An impairment loss refers to accounting treatment that reflects a loss on the financial statements when the actual value of an asset falls significantly below its book value. Generally, this is applied when it is determined that the recoverability of an invested asset is low.

Be My Concierge is a premium ride-hailing service provider targeting foreign companies. IMS Mobility CEO Jo Young-tak even mentioned Be My Concierge at a press conference in October 2019. In 2022, Be My Concierge recorded 226.96 million KRW in revenue and 21.85 million KRW in net profit. Despite its small revenue scale, it was expected to grow in the future as it had achieved a surplus.

However, performance plummeted in 2023 to 59.7 million KRW in revenue and a net loss of 65.64 million KRW. In 2024, there was no revenue generated at all. In effect, the business has ceased operations. The Be My Concierge website is also currently inaccessible.

IMS Mobility invested 250 million KRW when Be My Concierge was established in 2019. CEO Jo Young-tak took office as the CEO of Be My Concierge in 2020 to manage it directly. The headquarters of Be My Concierge is also located in the same building as IMS Mobility. In essence, it had been operating in tandem with IMS Mobility.

IMS Mobility went through a tumultuous year last year. The Special Prosecutor for Kim Keon-hee (the Min Joong-ki Special Prosecutor team) indicted CEO Jo Young-tak in December last year on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. At the time, the Special Prosecutor stated, "We have arrested and indicted CEO Jo Young-tak on charges including breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes (worth 3.2 billion KRW), embezzlement under the same Act (worth 3.5 billion KRW), professional embezzlement, bribery for breach of trust (worth 84 million KRW), violation of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, and instigation of evidence concealment.”

IMS Mobility is a company where Kim Ye-seong, known as First Lady Kim Keon-hee's 'butler,' participated in founding and management. The Special Prosecutor investigated the company, suspecting that certain businesses had made investments in IMS Mobility in exchange for favors. However, the case was transferred to the National Office of Investigation of the police without clearly establishing the relationship between the First Lady and IMS Mobility.

Amidst this, IMS Mobility's performance has been improving, which is drawing attention. According to the audit report, IMS Mobility's standalone revenue increased from 39 billion KRW in 2024 to 54.3 billion KRW in 2025. Additionally, after recording an operating loss of 900 million KRW in 2024, it turned a profit by recording an operating profit of approximately 1 billion KRW in 2025.

Bizhankook contacted IMS Mobility to hear their position on the matter, but a company official said, "I will check with the person in charge and get back to you," and did not provide a follow-up response.