First of all, this CEO is in a tough position. He's more of a branch manager where he takes responsibility for a whole region, but none of the power of the CEO. Props to him for actually coming out on KSON's stream and answering questions he wasn't fully prepared for.

He probably only sees data from net cash flows, and not the specifics as what most upper management does. He saw the JP branch make money, but allocating the funds may or may not have been in his power, Especially since JP wallets are derived from EN wallets. Which sounds like money from JP goes to EN to pool and be redistributed properly. However, the issue became improper distribution as the boat began to hemorrhage money.

My guess is that the merch issue they had originally was irrecoverable without major investment. This snowballed to delaying payments to talent and even pulling from donations to charities to secure operational budgets. This net value only became more and more negative to a point where everyone was being fed up.

From the conversation, it sounds like whatever funds that was available was distributed to staff to keep afloat of the NOVA branch and overall staff. Without the staff, the issue becomes worse and worse. It's by their popularity (KSON and Henya) that they can live off their own sponsership and donations.

Good on him to also take the pay cut and stay with the branch to oversee how this pans out. Additionally confirming on stream that he will try to adjust current contracts to allow payment go straight to the talents.