This lovely screenshot came from my chat with Moody , the guy who found Sivers before anyone else I know found it. Appreciate discussing ideas with you, Moody!
If you need to understand what Worldex does I’ve written about it here.
For those subscribers who have been following the Worldex story, we just got our thesis confirmed. The controlling shareholder revised the value-up plan to substantially satisfy activist demands.
I am already too overweight, at 30%, but if I wasn’t I would add here. The KOSPI is getting murdered, and Worldex is holding up even though the market is trying to drag everything down.
Price discovery will happen next as the market starts to understand the governance story. The company will do its first buyback in 18 years, with a shareholder-return policy. There are some caveats, which I will discuss later.
This was more bullish than the most bullish path I foresaw. The market reacted, but somewhat muted still because KOSPI is liquidating all the degen leveraged retail traders.
Massive opportunity in Worldex at the current price.
For a quick recap, the situation has played out as follows:
June 18th, I outline how deeply undervalued Worldex is. Governance was a major problem BUT activists are involved and I expected something to happen before the March 2027 AGM. The direction was positive.
(One piece of pre-history matters here. At the March 26 AGM, shareholders had already rejected Worldex’s director-remuneration proposal, with 69.2% opposed or abstaining. Under the Supreme Court’s Namyang precedent, Bae could not vote his own shares on a proposal governing his compensation. The defeat left Worldex without an approved 2026 remuneration framework for its registered directors, which is why the company called the June EGM and tried to pass the proposals again.)
June 29th, controlling shareholder Bae pulls out all the dirty tricks, holds an in-person vote in Gumi and tries to increase exec pay to egregious levels. Disables e-voting to make it harder for outside shareholders to participate. VIP Asset Management, the activists, rally the troops and reject ALL THREE of the controlling shareholder’s proposals. On the two items covering Bae’s own pay, where his votes were legally restricted, the rejection ran ~94% against. On item 2-1 — the sons’ pay limit, the one item where Bae could vote his full 34.8% bloc — the item still failed, 51.7% against, because 94.7% of general shareholders (everyone except Bae) voted no.
MASSIVE WIN. This was Bae's second straight defeat — but the first time in this company's history that minorities have beaten his full, unrestricted voting bloc. It changes Bae's situation entirely. I wrote about it here.
July 13th, I expected a "gift" from Bae, the CEO, to his son before the value-up plan. But Bae capitulates to the activists' economic demands, for reasons I will explain below. This is more bullish than I expected, but there are caveats!
And the capitulation came with something interesting: a written apology from the founder himself. The company's press release said the revision reflects management's "solemn recognition of the fatigue and disappointment shareholders felt" from delayed shareholder returns. Bae personally called the EGM result "a stern warning letter sent by shareholders and the market, which management accepts heavily and actively" — and added: "I sincerely apologize for failing to fully console shareholders' deep hurt and disappointment."
I think the market needs to re-rate this, probably around 30-50% just on the current value-up plan.
More could happen prior to the 2027 AGM. This is overall bullish, but the fun ain’t over yet…