Why the Q10 crisis has worsened

Why the Q10 crisis has worsened

1.
The founder of a company called Q10 that acquired Timon, Wemakeprice, and Interpark Shopping Mall is Koo Young-bae, who joined Interpark to spin off "Gmarket" to become the No. 1 player in the industry, listing it on Nasdaq, and even selling it to eBay.

2.
The problem seems to have forgotten the basic truth that a business's success depends more on luck than on ability, and that luck also depends on the person who does his best. He is the one who succeeded in Gmarket, but in fact, he challenges the jackpot once again, as if it was unfair that Interpark and the officials who provided 1 billion won in funding when spinoffing the first in-house venture were the ones who benefited more. That is Q10.

3.
Q10 is a well-known company to direct purchases. It is a purchasing agency that delivers goods purchased from overseas to Korea. Amazon serves as an agent on 11th Street and Chinese companies such as Ali and Temu deliver goods directly, but Q10 was the most trusted company to serve as an agent in the early days of the direct purchase craze.

4.
Koo Young-bae set up Q10 in Singapore to target the Southeast Asian open market, but the open market competition was too fierce to recreate the glory of listing Gmarket on NASDAQ. So, he found his own new model with delivery service.

5.
It is hard to find a latecomer in an open market where competition is fierce. There are already too many open markets and price competition. If it is not even 1 won cheaper, there is no reason to throw away the existing open market. In the case of Coupang, customers are firmly secured through a service that has not been developed around the world called rocket delivery, but other open markets have no competitive weapons other than cheaper prices.

6.
Instead, Q10's strategy was to make money through a company called QExpress, which delivers goods without making money in the open market itself. It was a strategy that came about because people now tolerate paying for delivery or delivery. In fact, I don't think Q10's business model itself was bad.

7.
However, the implementation strategy was too reckless. Instead of gradually increasing the market share through its own services, the focus was on increasing the trading volume in a short period of time. The method was aggressive mergers and acquisitions. As a result, it quickly became the fourth largest in the industry by acquiring Timon, Wemakeprice, and Interpark shopping malls. Now, the only way to list QExpress on Nasdaq, which provides delivery services for shopping malls acquired or operated overseas with three domestic companies.

8.
Timon and Wemakeff, whose valuation once exceeded 1 trillion won, were sold to Q10 for 200 billion. That's not in cash, but in a stock swap method. Timon and others were sold after receiving shares of QExpress. Why was that? It's simple. This is because shareholders judged that there was no possibility of survival in the market.

9.
Since its inception in 2010, Timon and WeMakePrice have never made a profit. And shareholders could no longer pour more water into the bottomless jar. That's why Q10 accepted the offer: "I'll give you shares of QExpress that will soon be listed on Nasdaq, so sell it." It's not without it. Before Battlegrounds, Krafton took over several game companies by stock swap, and the strategy worked beautifully. It was also the most dramatic success story on this floor.

10.
However, Q10 is not a krafton. A box office industry like games has the potential to turn everything around at once, but it is not possible in the distribution market. Existing powerhouses such as Coupang and Shinsegae took over Gmarket and entered the online market in earnest, and Chinese companies such as Ali and Temu aggressively challenged them, and it was too reckless for the Q10 coalition to win.

11.
Consequently, Timon and Wemakeff already had a significant amount of debt, as they had been in deficit for more than a decade. On top of that, various promotions to boost the volume for the listing on QExpress Nasdaq are regarded as current liabilities. The fact that the current liabilities of 719.3 billion in 2022 are 130.9 billion indicates that they have reached a point of danger almost stopping it.

12.
I know because I've failed, but the psychology of those who fail comes from unfounded optimism that "if I pass this moment, it will be solved anyway." Q10 poured all of its supplies into listing, first investing assets in the company and then raising debt from the financial sector. Later, as the money dried up, the sellers did not settle the price of the goods and stopped it, and eventually the employees' retirement pensions were touched to hold out, but when the Nasdaq listing did not go as planned, it collapsed uncontrollably as it is now.

13.
President Koo Young-bae comes from Singapore and says he will settle it. It will take a lot of money. I just hope it is not a solution that creditors or the government ask for funding of victims as hostages. It's something you've seen a lot, but it's right to start with confiding in your own personal wealth and restoring a little bit of market trust.

14.
I just hope that a smooth way will come out so that the victims don't collapse.