Fallout continues from industry giants' house of cards

The liquidators are represented by a legal team from Shook Lin & Bok.

- Toh Yong Chuan

On Nov 11, online marketplace Qoo10 was declared insolvent by the Singapore High Court and ordered to be wound up. It is one of the most high-profile business failures in 2024.

Other than Qoo10, the fallout from some once high-flying companies that failed in the past few years namely Hin Leong, the Envy group of companies and Hyflux - is still making its way through various courts in 2024 and 2025.

1 Q0010 LIQUIDATORS WORKING ON WINDING-UP PLAN

Singapore-based was Qoo10 founded in 2010 by South Korean national Ku Young-bae.

Qoo10's problems first surfaced in July in South Korea, when two of the online shopping platforms that it owns - WeMakePrice and Tmon - failed to pay money owed to sellers in May. Traders left the platforms and complaints piled up.

The South Korean authorities launched an investigation into both platforms.

In Singapore, merchants also faced delayed payments for goods sold on the Qoo10 platform. Several complained to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and other government agencies between April and August.

The company has reportedly retrenched more than 90 of its 110 employees here since mid-August due to cash flow problems.

In September, MAS directed Qoo10 to suspend all payment services due to numerous delays in payments to merchants. The regulator said the company could not provide sufficient assurance that it had the resources and systems to meet its payment obligations to merchants in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, on Sept 10, Qoo10 creditor Korea Culture Promotion (KCP), which operates culture portal sites and issues culture gift certificates in South Korea, applied to the Singapore High Court for Qoo10 to be liquidated over nearly 76 billion won (S$71 million) in unpaid debt.

Six local creditors to which Qoo10 owed about $3.77 million in total supported KCP's court application.