The majority of SM internal employees disagree with HYBE becoming the largest shareholder of SM Entertainment.
On the morning of February 10th, HYBE announced that it acquired Lee Soo Man’s 14.8% shares in SM with 422.8 billion won. After owning the stakes from Lee Soo Man, HYBE revealed its intention to buy shares of minor shareholders in order to own 25% of the total issued shares to stabilize the management rights.
In response, SM’s current executives defined HYBE’s action as hostile M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and expressed their negative stance. As a result, the management dispute between Lee Soo Man-HYBE and SM’s current CEOs-Kakao began.
In this regard, a vote about HYBE’s attempt to acquire SM was conducted in SM Lounge on the anonymous application for office workers called ‘Blind’ on February 11th. The question gave two options, SM’s current CEOs & Kakao and HYBE & Lee Soo Man, then asked employees to choose only one. On the morning of February 13th, the vote recorded 213 answers. Considering the total number of 544 employees revealed in SM’s semi-annual report in September last year, nearly half of SM employees participated in the vote within two days, showing their high interest in the issue.
As a result, 181 people, about 85% of SM internal employees, prefer the current management system led by 2 CEOs and Kakao. They also expressed their negative position on HYBE’s attempt to acquire SM.
SM employee A reacted, “Now I hate the name SM itself”. Employee B couldn’t hide their disappointment, saying “After overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, our performances have clearly improved and we are all working with the mindset of ‘Let’s win the first place again’. But all of that feeling and spirit have collapsed. I feel like our traditions and history are being denied”.
In addition, many criticized Lee Soo Man for handing over his shares in SM to HYBE, saying “The existence of SM staff means only that much to you, Lee Soo Man?”, “I feel betrayed by Lee Soo Man. His greed has brought him to such a bad decision”, etc.
Source: nate
