Billionaire Chey Sees Stockholder Loss With Hynix Bid: Real M&A

SK Telecom Co., the worst-performing telecommunications stock in east Asia, has decided that the best way to increase shareholder value is to pursue a bailed out chipmaker and a bankrupt video-rental chain.

South Korea’s biggest mobile-phone operator said this month it will bid for a stake in Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the computer-memory chipmaker rescued by its lenders in 2001. The decision comes after Seoul-based SK Telecom lost an auction to buy Blockbuster Inc., which was sold in liquidation in April. SK Telecom, which has declined 35 percent in dollars in the past five years, doesn’t have any overlapping businesses with either Hynix or Blockbuster, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.