SHINee Key and Super Junior Ryeowook indirectly expressed their feelings about the SM management right dispute, while HYBE announced their position regarding taking over SM.
According to the music industry on Feb 14th, CEO Park Ji Won held an in-house briefing session for employees at HYBE‘s office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on Feb 13th. He expressed his position on Lee Soo Man‘s management involvement and production.
CEO Park Ji Won mentioned, “We respect SM’s legacy. We’ll ensure SM’s independence. HYBE has already proved the value of its multi-label system.”
CEO Park Ji Won then said, “Lee Soo Man won’t be involved in management affairs or producing affairs. We won’t pay him in royalties. Producers under HYBE such as Bang Si Hyuk and Min Hee Jin are still busy enough, so they don’t have time to produce for SM Entertainment. We have no resources or mind to shake up SM Entertainment.”
Previously, HYBE said, “That Lee Soo Man continues his management or returns to SM Entertainment as a producer are groundless rumors. By removing the portion of royalties that were raised through mutual agreement, we have removed SM Entertainment’s cost burden. With this agreement, HYBE has resolved most of the dominance structure issues between Lee Soo Man and SM Entertainment.”
SM is currently going through a management right dispute. Lee Sung Soo and Tak Young Joon, co-CEOs of SM Entertainment, announced “SM 3.0” on Feb 3rd. They announced that they would pursue a change from Lee Soo Man’s single production to a multi-production center/label system, and that they would form a strategic partnership with Kakao. In response, HYBE acquired a 14.8% stake held by Lee Soo Man, SM’s founder and largest shareholder, for 422.8 billion won and became SM Entertainment’s largest shareholder.
Accordingly, the agency’s artists are also showing their confusion. When asked to hold an encore concert on “Key ‘Killer’ Countdown Live”, which was broadcast live through YouTube on Feb 13th, SHINee Key mentioned the chaotic situation in SM, “Who should I ask to have an encore concert now? I’m the person who would like to do it more than anyone else. I don’t know. The company is going through a lot.”
Ryeowook also mentioned “Kakao” while eating chocolate and said “It’s scary”. Hearing this, the members joked, “You have to be careful.”
In this way, many people are paying attention to the management right dispute between SM and HYBE.
Source: naver
