A South Korean appeals court has ordered AI billionaire Chey Tae-won to pay his ex-wife approximately $645 million in cash, bringing a potential end to a decade-long legal battle dubbed the "divorce of the century." The ruling on Friday reduces the initial demand of nearly $1 billion sought by Roh Soh-yeong, who is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo.
Chey Tae-won, the 65-year-old chairman of SK Group, amassed significant wealth through the artificial intelligence boom, with shares of the memory-chip giant SK Hynix, a key supplier for Nvidia, soaring in recent years. His wealth, estimated at around $5 billion before Friday's decision, became the central issue in the divorce proceedings. The appeals court awarded Roh approximately one-third of the wealth as calculated by the judges, valuing Chey's holdings before the surge in SK's stock value driven by AI demand.
Chey's legal team stated they are reviewing the ruling and have not ruled out a further appeal to South Korea's Supreme Court.
The high-profile divorce case began in 2015 when Chey publicly confessed in a letter to fathering a child with another woman and seeking a "clean end" to his 27-year marriage. This revelation came as a shock, as his marriage to Roh had once been celebrated as the "marriage of the century." The couple married in 1988, linking the prominent SK business dynasty with the nation's first family.
Roh initially resisted divorce but later changed her stance, demanding half of Chey's fortune. She also sued Kim Hee-young, Chey's longtime partner and the mother of his child born outside the marriage. A court previously ordered Chey and Kim to jointly pay Roh approximately $1.5 million in damages, finding that the affair and the child contributed to the marital breakdown.
The divorce proceedings also expanded into a dispute over the origins of the SK empire itself. Roh's lawyers presented a note that they claimed indicated her father secretly provided funds to Chey's father, which aided in the expansion of the family business. Chey's lawyers have denied these allegations.
The SK Group's financial standing has been significantly boosted by the AI boom, with SK Hynix's memory chips becoming essential components for AI systems, leading to a substantial increase in Chey's net worth. The court's valuation for the divorce settlement was based on Chey's wealth prior to this recent surge.