Kakao Clarifies Reports That It Has Acquired Lee Soo Man’s Shares In SM Entertainment (2024)
Kakao has clarified reports of its acquiring Lee Soo Man’s stake in SM Entertainment.
On March 11, Korea Economy TV reported that Kakao had agreed to purchase the entirety of SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo Man’s shares in the company. As Lee Soo Man currently holds an 18.73 percent stake in SM Entertainment, he is the company’s largest shareholder—and it is believed that whoever acquires his shares will be obtaining SM Entertainment’s management rights. Last year, it was reported that HYBE, CJ ENM, and Kakao were all competing to acquire Lee Soo Man’s stake in SM, though HYBE’s offer was said to have been rejected.
However, that same morning, Kakao officially clarified that nothing had yet been decided regarding a potential acquisition. A spokesperson for the company stated, “In order to strengthen the competitiveness of our global content business, we have been consistently reviewing a wide variety of possible measures, including partnerships and equity investment, but at the moment, nothing concrete has yet been decided.”
Back in October, SM Entertainment shut down rumors that CJ ENM’s acquisition of Lee Soo Man’s shares had been finalized, stating, “We are currently in discussions with a number of companies regarding multiple possible angles.” CJ ENM similarly responded, “While we are currently reviewing a diverse array of methods for the growth of our music business, nothing has been finalized.”
South Korean internet company Kakao has become the largest shareholder of SM Entertainment, winning a battle for control of one of the country's most iconic music agencies. Kakao and its entertainment unit have increased their stake in SM to 39.9%, they said in a Tuesday regulatory filing.
It was revealed that HYBE bought Lee Soo Man's stake in SM Entertainment and paid Lee an additional 70 billion KRW (~53.3 million USD) for his stake in SM Entertainment's subsidiaries.
Aespa has made history once again. The K-pop girl group has officially secured the title of best-selling SM Entertainment artist of all time in first-week album sales. According to SM Entertainment, aespa's third mini album, “My World,” has sold a total of 1,698,784 copies in its first week of release.
HYBE has announced that it “will discontinue the acquisition process of SM Entertainment.” On March 12, HYBE released an official statement announcing the end of its highly public battle with Kakao over acquiring shares of SM Entertainment.
Xiumin, Baekhyun, and Chen of the K-pop group EXO terminated their exclusive contract with longtime agency SM Entertainment on June 1, alleging the company withheld payments and forced them to sign “slave” contracts.
As of July 2023 SM Entertainment has a market cap of $2.21 Billion. This makes SM Entertainment the world's 3767th most valuable company by market cap according to our data.
S.M. Entertainment (Hangul: SM엔터테인먼트) is an independent Korean record label, talent agency, producer, and publisher of pop music, founded by Lee Soo-man in South Korea. Initially, "SM" was an abbreviation of the agency founder's name, but now stands for "Star Museum." Its current CEO is Kim Young-min.
Lee Soo-man (born June 18, 1952) is a South Korean entrepreneur and the founding chairman of SM Entertainment Group, specializing in K-pop groups. Lee started his career as a singer while attending Seoul National University in 1972.
Introduction: My name is Jeremiah Abshire, I am a outstanding, kind, clever, hilarious, curious, hilarious, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
