Recalculate nearly 1 billion US dollars in the ledger! SK conglomerate's' century divorce case 'ends, time and AI bull market become the most expensive chips The SK Group's "Century Divorce Case", which had the highest amount of money in South Korean history and lasted for 9 years, has finally received the final verdict of retrial! In the latest retrial judgment, a South Korean court ordered SK Group Chairman Choi Tae won to pay 944 billion Korean won (approximately 643 million US dollars) in property division to his ex-wife Lu Suying. Compared to the second instance judgment of 1.3808 trillion Korean won in 2024, the amount of this split has significantly decreased by 436.8 billion Korean won! The finale of this wealthy marriage spanning nearly a decade is a wonderful combination of extreme legal games and macro cycles. 1、 Why was the sentence reduced by over 430 billion Korean won? The most core dispute between the second trial and the retrial stems from a historical fund of 30 billion Korean won: one ️⃣ The determination of the second instance: Previously, the second instance court believed that the 30 billion Korean won came from Lu Suying's father (former South Korean President Roh Tae woo), which played a key role in the early expansion and development of SK Group, and therefore regarded it as Lu Suying's significant contribution to her marital property. two ️⃣ Subversion by the Supreme Court: After review, the Supreme Court determined that the source of the funds was illegal (belonging to illegal funds) and could not be considered a legitimate contribution to marital property at the legal level. three ️⃣ Re examination and correction: After removing this illegal historical contribution, the property division ratio and base that Lu Suying can claim have been directly reduced, resulting in a significant decrease in the final delivery amount. 2、 Catching up with the AI explosion: Time has become the most expensive variable The 9-year delay in this lawsuit coincides with the outbreak of the global artificial intelligence (AI) craze. As the core giant of AI chip computing power (HBM high bandwidth memory), SK Group and its subsidiary SK Hynix have undergone an epic reassessment of their market value: Stock valuation skyrockets: At the end of the second instance debate in 2024, Choi Tae won's SK shares were worth approximately 2.07 trillion Korean won; And this year, with the strong rise of AI in stock prices, the market value of these shares has soared to over 6 trillion Korean won! The game of valuation benchmark day: The court ultimately needs to weigh whether to settle based on the historical price at the end of the second instance or the present value after the current AI bull market surge. Despite deducting illegal contributions of 30 billion Korean won, the significant expansion of the company's fundamentals in the bull market still allowed Lu Suying to receive a huge amount of cash worth nearly 1 billion US dollars. 3、 The future impact of the capital market and the pattern of financial conglomerates SK equity control crisis resolved: The market was originally most concerned that Choi Tae won may be forced to sell or pledge a large number of SK core stocks to raise money, thereby causing the company's control to shake. With the split amount reduced to 944 billion Korean won, Choi Tae won can digest it through cash reserves, debt financing, or asset pledge, and the suspense of SK Group's control is basically settled. The positive response of the capital market: the re examination has eliminated the long-term uncertainty of governance structure hanging over SK Group, which constitutes a medium-term safe haven for SK's stock price and its semiconductor ecosystem. This nine-year wealthy marriage lawsuit not only tore apart the historical legacy of the interweaving of South Korean chaebols and politics, but also showed the world that in the face of macro asset revaluation, "time" itself is the most expensive asset.