What started as an April Fool’s joke by South Korean startup founder Lee Seung-gun has become partly real, with the CEO planning to sell his home and use part of the proceeds to cover 10 employees’ housing costs for a year.
On Wednesday, Lee, founder and CEO of Viva Republica, told employees he would sell his home in Seoul and use the proceeds to cover the rent and loan interest of 100 staff members for life, as reported by The Korea Times. Viva Republica operates fintech platform Toss.
Lee Seung-gun, the founder and CEO of Viva Republica, which operates the finance app Toss. Photo courtesy of Toss |
A day later, the ambitious pledge was scaled back but partially implemented. Lee said he would allocate part of the gains to support the housing costs of 10 employees for one year, while committing to return the remainder to society.
The 10 recipients will be chosen by lottery at the company’s monthly event on Friday. The housing support will have no cap and will be funded personally by Lee.
“My April Fool’s message wasn’t entirely true, but the intent behind it was sincere,” Lee wrote on the company bulletin board.
“I believe profits made from real estate should ultimately belong to society. Going forward, I plan to use all such gains to help address housing issues in the community.”
“To put this into action, I’m considering taking concrete steps in the near future, such as establishing a foundation focused on housing solutions,” he added.
Specific details, including the timing of the sale, have not yet been determined. In 2022, Lee posted that he would give away 20 Teslas and later selected 10 employees by lottery to use the cars free of charge for a year. Last year, the company selected 100 employees for a group trip to Okinawa, Japan, according to The Korean Herald.
Lee is known to live in Cheongdam in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam District, where a 464-square-meter unit in his apartment complex is valued at KRW32.57 billion ($21 million), according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
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