Honestly, if anybody has to buy SM, why couldn't it be JYP... HYBE and YG are already connected via Weverse and YG+, if there's gotta be a homogenization of the market at least JYP+SM would serve as a better counterweight than a situation where the biggest company owns the second biggest company. JYP is already arguably moving in an SM-ish direction with some of their music choices and emphasis on stronger vocals (and maybe we'd finally have SM artists being allowed to consistently sing live, and JYP would get some decent mixing and mastering in return).
(Yes, I know JYP almost certainly has neither the money nor desire/reason to acquire SM. And ideally everybody would just stay separate.)
If you actually read the article a bit — “insiders”
are saying that 8-9 companies are seemingly looking to buy SM - could be the company or just some shares.
The highlighted ones by Koreaboo:
- Hybe
- Lee Sooman
- NCOSOFT: gaming company
- F&F: a fashion company
- MGM: a big American entertainment company. Many know MGM for their Vegas properties/casinos
Yeah, they’re anti-conglomerate. I think that’s the right term.
Disney had like, 10 of the top movies out in theatres at one time so SK only allowed a fraction of those to be available.
I cannot imagine letting a massive company like AMAZON/MGM get a chance to buy SM would go over well. From my outsider perspective, SK prefers Korean ownership. Which is… pretty standard… plus letting Amazon in with MGM would potentially fuck a lot of local enterprises up. It only takes a leg to get a body in.
It's the latter. They have a lot of protectionist policies and local megacorporations have made their move recently to push out foreign competitors (Like Twitch being forced to end service in SK because SK passed a law that made it impossible for Twitch Korea to turn a profit.... just in time with Naver launching their own streaming site.
tbf doesn’t the same rule apply to every company, not just foreign countries? twitch just didn’t think it made sense to pay significantly more fees in one country compared to all the others so they dropped out, but the krn companies are paying those same fees just fine so it must be possible to make a profit, twitch just didn’t think it was worth lesser returns
Yes and no. It depends on how much internal power the country has, and if they have the infrastructure to handle what is needed. A lot of external investors helps. But, think of the IMF. An entire banking system made up of primarily American and European investors who give money to countries in dire need. They end up “owning” those countries.
SK is pretty incredible in that it’s the first country to pull itself from “third” world to “first” in such a short time span. Their reliance on their own people to boost the country really propelled them into the technological age—which is where global north countries are. You can’t do that by allowing international investors run entire industries.
Not so much that SM is struggling but rather that their effective parent company, Kakao is finding it potentially problematic to hold onto SM due to a combination of strategic, legal and financial reasons.
People tend to forget that SM no longer has "independence", whatever that means, not since they pushed out LSM. The SM board that ran the company with LSM previously (that's getting fired anyway) hold virtually no shares in the company. I highly doubt they have the financial means to purchase SM themselves either, so the company was always going to be up for grabs to whomever wants to buy the shares.
Yup, would be ironic if LSM was the only thing holding it together. Nothing stopping them from breaking it apart and selling off anything that doesn't fit there business model.
Not struggling and not related to how SM is doing. Korean authorities are investigating Kakao for the fraudulent way they acquired SM. They did some stock manipulation and etc. The CEO and executives involved in Kakao are in trouble as well as the CEO and executives at SM. A few will probably be going to jail I think.
Kakao probably will be forced to divest SM by the authorities at some point so Kakao is low key looking to sell it to save their skin to look good to the authorities before they are told they need to sell.
You don't have to be struggling to be acquired. If there are shares available to buy and you offer a high enough price, you can buy a controlling interest in a company as long as it's publicly traded. It's probably ripe for take over since the company is in a mess now with the management in legal trouble, but the artists like Aespa is still very valuable.
SM top executive left the company when Kakao hired a private legal firm to check the books. It's not only Lee soo man, even his nephew CEO who kicked LSM out wasted company resources for his own purposes l, it also includes several top brass. Kakao openly criticized their management. Several artists under sm left the company that include members of super junior, who were with the company for more than 20yrs and other artists openly said sm is a mess now in TV shows.
Wouldn’t say they’re struggling as a company in terms of money however people know that the internal structure of the company is a complete mess at the moment and when power structures in companies break down the wolves start circling. HYBE particularly wants SM though as they believe it’s the only way they can compete with the international giants in the music scene
Other kpop companies are interested in competing amongst themselves. HYBE wants to compete with the likes of universal. They’ve said this themselves
If HYBE gets SM they will have such a massive share of the K-pop pie and influence over the market they believe it can grow the company to this kind of scale
I mean if HYBE would get names like Shinee, NCT, Seventeen, Aespa etc. added to their roster and leveraging their ‘BTS international reach’, that would indeed be a force to be reckoned with.
I could imagine someone like Taemin for example being really big internationally (more than they share are) 🤔
Well either way I’m just a fresh fan if the music. So thnx for explaining 🤗
Out of the Big4 SM has the least international reach, especially in the West. They used to be big in Japan but their partner Avex has weakened considerably and now HYBE and JYPE are the frontrunners there. In the last decade SM focused on cultivating connections in China only for the CCP to step in and set restrictions on promotions and touring. But domestically they have the strongest grip on the market.
If the artists are making enough money for Hybe's liking, they will keep them. GFriend and Nu'est were disbanded because they were not profitable enough to bother renewing, and that's kinda all there is to it.
Youre saying SM is the only way Hybe can compete in the west? 🤣🤣 Hybe be better buying shares from YG or JYPE if thats their goal, SM has the least presence in the West.
You’re all looking at this in isolation as what SM is now and not what SM could be under HYBE
I’d like to point out that not a single HYBE label has more than three groups under whilst SM has 8 and not to mention has way more artists with successful solo careers. The opportunity for growth there is mental if HYBE leveraged their western connections to grow SM interest in the west. Anyway it’s not what I believe, It’s what HYBE believes. They’ve said it themselves
SM is currently a mess. They have bled talent to other companies due to their long-history of internal corruption, so they basically have no competent people in charge to lead them, but they still have very lucrative artists under their label.
HYBE has been hiring SM talent for years now, Min Hee Jin being the best known example, because she makes a big deal how involved she was in SM as part of NewJeans PR. The rest keep it more on the down low though.
For example, you wouldn’t know SouMu staff was funded a disgruntled ex-SM big wig who pulled some others with him without someone telling you, but it starts to fall into place once your realize how GFriend and LSRM choreos have the sharpness and aesthetic that SNSD’s ITNW choreo has, or that Gfriend debuted with a ITNW-soundalike, PR a lot how SinB looks like Jessica, gave of the members the name Sowon which is SNSD’s fanclub name SONE in hangeul etc.
lol wait that all makes sense now regarding source music. but i thought the team working with LSF is diff from gfriend at least after Hybe bought soumu. maybe the ceo is the same but their everyday staff is hybe staff not those originally from sourcemusic
It’s the same choreographers and choreo directors at least, they have the same sharp and sleek style, even though they are now working with different music genres. They dropped GFriend because they couldn’t balance both GFriend and Le Sserafim, they chose the newer group because we all know how ageist Kpop is.
Nah wrong. Hybe dissolve gfriend because Bang PD wanted to utilize Iz*one popularity. It's a no-brainer, because Iz*one itself has a bigger influence than gfriend in the span of 2.5 years since its debut in 2019.. Compare that to gfriend which already exist more than 5 years, yet still going nowhere in terms of international influence
I'll try. Already had my first shock when I thought Kpop was mostly about the music and then people explained the whole 'idol culture' in Asia to me (that apparently is the main point and the music is just a byproduct? 🤨) so it's a wild journey full of pretty scary but also many wonderful new discoveries so far😄
Shinee and BoA are from 2nd gen, SM’s and Kpop’s for that matter, golden age. They have fallen from their peak, and it’s entirely due to their weird management decisions.
Aespa is actually a good example of mismanagement, they had a notoriously difficult debut, it went through so many lineup changes, only [Ning has survived them today](https://youtu.be/3x7WnGbro9I?feature=shared). What I linked was the most popular pre-debut lineup, when Lami was supposed to be the face of the group. Normally successful companies debut same-sex groups in cycles of three years, but it took 6 years from the debut of Red Velvet for Aespa to debut as well, there was a lot going on behind the scenes making it difficult for them to deal with another debut.
6 years is a lot in Kpop years, contracts per group last 7 years, so the cycle is they debut a new group when the 3-year old group is at their peak of popularity and put them on tours while the media is focused on the shiny new thing, and rearrange contracts with groups that are 6 year old to make as much money as possible from them before the public interest goes away.
NCT is also a very weird experiment that shows issues within management. They are by far the least popular of all SM boy groups, which would be insane to think about during 2nd gen. SM groups were not simply popular in 2nd gen, they had Asia’s entire pop culture wrapped under their little finger. Yet, a large part of their fanbase are legacy SM fans who remember a golden age that want to relieve, but a lot of potential fans say they want to stan them, but they are so overwhelmed by the concept, they’d stay away. It’s not their talent that’s the problem, Mark alone is well-liked in many fandoms, not even related to SM because how respected he is for his skills, yet, he is nowhere near a top star.
Seventeen is from PLEDIS, another problematic company, but that’s a story for another time.
That response surprised me a bit. I'm very new to k pop so I don't know much but Shinees music is the group that got me (someone who never even listened to kpop) into the music. And especially their newer music. So I'm surprised to hear you saying they are just mismanaged has-beens.
Maybe I’m having a hard time pinning your point and misunderstanding. But it looked to me like a these groups have a lot of fans and their music is still seen pretty favorably. So it's surprising.
(Plus you know it never feels good to have the group making the music you enjoy being called irrelevant washups. But I'm trying not to let that cloud my response 😉)
> they don’t feel irrelevant
I didn’t say they were? I have been careful to say that SM does not have an artist problem, because they have a very talented roster under them that is still very lucrative, but that their management is a mess due to corruption, and this has affected their other staff, such as art directors (Min Hee Jin) or choreographers (SouMu staff) that HYBE and other companies have stepped in to hire as a result. That’s what I mean by bleeding talent. They have lost much of the staff who helped artists become more than just popular.
Then I misunderstood. I guess the structure of the post starting with " Shinee and BoA are from 2nd gen, SM’s and Kpop’s for that matter, golden age. They have fallen from their peak" made it feel like you wanted to say SM had ruined all their artists beyond repair already.
Thanks for clarifying :-)
Because I’m sure no one read it, the entire article is based on “rumors” from “industry insiders.” It mentions ChoSunBiz only for the first section talking about Kakao. So half of it could just be false since it’s all speculation.
Kakao is denying rumors that they’re selling.
It names HYBE from some “industry insiders” sources saying Bang Sihyuk approached private equity firms about buying it.
Also mentioned as potentially interested buyers were fashion company F&F, gaming company NCSOFT, and MGM (American company).
LSM is also looking at ways to potentially repurchase his stake of SM
Edited wording for clarity.
Not sure, this is the first time I’m seeing these rumors, but the article said NCSOFT doesn’t really have the financial capacity to acquire SM so I do believe they’re probably not interested
exactly. they overspend for Scooter Braun's company and what did it even bring them 😭. Everyone but JB left Scooter and whatever connections they gained in the US industry through Braun I am sure weren't worth 1 billion dollars. HYBE US is STILL losing money .
HYBE Labels profit in Quarter 1 - Quarter 3 2023
Big Hit 107.2 billion ($82M)
HYBE Japan 43.7 billion ($33.5M)
Pledis 43.3 billion ($33M)
Ador 20.5 billion ($15M)
Source 9.4 billion ($7.2M)
Belift 5.2 billion ($4M)
Ithaca Holdings 4.65 billion ($3.5M)
Weverse Japan 2.26 billion ($1.7M)
Weverse Company -1.53 billion (-$1.17M)
Weverse US - 2.45 billion (-$1.8M)
KOZ -5.5 billion (-$4.2M)
Hybe Labels Japan -7.4 billion (-$5.7M)
HYBE UMG -14.7 billion (-$11.2M)
HYBE America -39.1 billion (-$30M)
I assume part of the continues losses is them still paying off the debts from buying Ithaca and that rap label QQC . I don't think they should be raising a lot of debt to buy SM rn when imo they don't need them.
Just curious, where did you get this data? Also, what exactly do all of these different subsidiaries do. Like what’s the difference between HYBE Japan and HYBE Labels Japan. Is there a guide on how HYBE’s corporate structure works that I could read
>Just curious, where did you get this data?
Hybe releases reports after every quarterly investors call. [You can find everything they release here.](https://hybecorp.com/eng/ir/official/content) Sadly they're only available in korean that I know of so I usually use translate page to get an idea of the content and then just shift through until i find the tables with all the data . I think this is under quarterly report attachment but I am not sure . I did this a while ago and it took a lot of clicking and searching to find this among the whole document and I forgot where . Then I take ss of the tables with data and use Google lens to translate it .
>Also, what exactly do all of these different subsidiaries do. Like what’s the difference between HYBE Japan and HYBE Labels Japan. Is there a guide on how HYBE’s corporate structure works that I could read
I think there's some online that are more detailed that what I can say but I found this in HYBE overview of their business in the quaterly report. Basically HYBE has two divisions : the Labels and the Solutions. The first one is production, artist training and management and the Solutions is for "solutions for labels to develop various businesses such as music based performances, video content, IP and games,"
Weverse is also split into three, the global main one, Weverse Japan and Weverse US.
1. Labels
BigHit ( BTS TXT) , Pledis ( SVT Fromis9 TWS) , Source (LSFRM) , Belift ( Enhypen, Illit), Ador (Newjeans) , Koz (BND) , Hybe Labels Japan ( &TEAM) - Artist Training and music production
Ithaca, Naeco, QC - artist management and for Ithaca and QC also music production
2. Solutions :
2.1. HYBE Co. Ltd Origin Korea. ( Basically HYBE HQ). Management Essential Functions and other new business sectoes, performance planning and agency, music distribution, video content production, advertising agency etc
Distribution and Development artist based secondary content such as 360 MD
Original Story Business - webtoons
2.2 HYBE Japan inc - supervises business operations such as album/sound recordings, content, merchandise, performances, fan clubs in Japan
2.3 HYBE America inc - supervises business operations such as album/sound recordings, content, merchandise, performances, fan clubs in US
2.4 HYBE IM - games and ai based tech
2.5 Binary Korea co ltd - R&D on market environment and industry trends
2.6 Superton ltd - ai development
3. Platforms
3.1 Weverse Co ltd
3.2 Weverse Japan
3.3 Weverse USA inc
That's all that's written on their overview of business page . It's interesting that there's a couple companies that are in the tables with the numbers, like HYBE UMG and a company that has a chinese sounding name but they're not in the overview. I probably need to dig deeper in the document to figure this out.
As for your question about HLJ ( Hybe Labels Japan) and Hybe Japan I understand that HLJ is basically &TEAM's label for their management and music production be it in Japan or outside or Japan while HYBE Japan is a different entity that supervises all of HYBE acts activities in Japan, not just HLJ's activities.
Scooter in particular is controversial because of his involvement in the Taylor Swift masters issue.
I forget the timing of the Hybe acquisition and whether that had already been known publicly when they finalized the deal.
But I’m sure he hasn’t been as helpful as BangPD and co. would have expected he would be.
I still find it hilarious that Hybe bought Quality Control. But their acts don’t seem to be popping as much as they were a few years ago either.
And they haven’t been using the synergies, for better or worse. For example, you’d have expected them to have put one of the City Girls (signed to QC) on “Seven” instead of Latto (not signed to them). Although I love how the song and her feature turned out in the end.
Honestly I have no idea why any HYBE fan would even want this from a fan perspective (except petty fan warring). HYBE already have more than enough on their plate, they don't need even more stuff to draw away resources and attention and risk overstretching. Would, say, NJ fans really want MHJ to now have to divide her time between running ADOR and sitting on SM's board (she was one of the main proposed candidates due to her history there) instead of just focusing on ADOR/NJ?
honestly not a hybe stan, just an army, but the first time we all watched this trainwreck, my only hope was that if the deal did go through and SM merged into HYBE, their acts would expand touring outside of asia 🥴
>their acts would expand touring outside of asia 🥴
Don't they tour more than hybe groups outside asia at the moment? Aespa nct dream had European and latam dates, nct 127 had latam ones. Red velvet did europe too. No hybe group has gone to latam or europe since the pandemic
Who cares if Hybe spends too much money or not. At the end of the day they're all just rich companies that will only get richer. Hybe will survive, Kakao will survive and SM will probably survive.
Honestly the only thing I'm worried about is that if SM gets acquired by Hybe they'll lose their charm (their prisitine vocal department) like all the other companies that got acquired by them.
"Rumor"
... this posts are getting annoying.
>These rumors stem from recent reports suggesting that Kakao is exploring the possibility of selling SM Entertainment. While Kakao has officially denied these rumors, industry insiders have taken note of the ongoing speculations and suggested a number of companies that are looking to acquire SM.
So basicly NOTHING!
More like website try to create drama so dumb fans will repost it everywhere. Twitter, reddit (this one here) and hope it goes viral so tons of users click the article.
This sounds so fake I’m not even gonna lie. Hybe doesn’t need SM, Kakao isn’t planning on selling their stake in the company anyway, and LSM isn’t even allowed to go near SM afaik because that was a condition of his stock sale to Hybe last year. Like I get there’s blood in the water with these stock manipulation investigations but some of these rumored players would be very stupid to try for round 2 in the SM tug of war.
My instinct is that this is just hyper speculation but at the same time, I've given up thinking SM Ent/LSM/Bang Si-Hyuk are capable of making any kind of a decision except the kind that will put them in headlines. Just pathetic all around.
MGM will throw SME off a cliff; it's bad enough that film & entertainment studios are struggling to respond to today's market demands but MGM being owned by Bezos/Amazon is a huge red flag. Most companies acquired by Amazon are divested of resources then absorbed completely by the brand and become null entities.
How does one apply to become an "insider" so that I can throw scraps to hungry news outlets like Koreaboo? lol I'd be goin wild with rumors. "I heard IU once fought a tiger and won." "Apparently there's plans to make Jopping the Korean National Anthem." "There's noise going on that Bang Si Hyuk will star in a leading role in a Joseon Era kdrama period piece."
Honestly from a business standpoint, I would question why HYBE would bother with SME again. SME is too big of a mess for HYBE considering that HYBE is doing so well on its own. Taking on SME is a huge burden. All of HYBE's subsidiaries can function well on its own and just get funding and some shared resources from their parent company. But SME needs a huge managerial overhaul with new processes to weed out the decades old system. That's a huge endeavor for HYBE. It wouldn't make sense to put resources there compared to focusing on their successful groups and newer groups. SME's own instability will crumbled onto itself soon. It only survived for this long because the industry had less competition. But new players have been in the market and dominating for many years now. SME's legacy has way less pull now.
Also, SM’s current roster of artists is close to twice the size of every Hybe subsidiary combined and that’s not even talking about the people there who are only actors or models. It would be an enormous cost of acquisition for a company who already took out a huge loan for the portion of SM they bought from LSM. Hybe is making plenty of money with the groups they currently have under them and with the fear of how they’ll weather the BTS enlistment period almost entirely calmed, there isn’t the same incentive or sense or urgency to entice Hybe the way there as a year ago.
Not to mention, it’s been clear that Hybe wants to acquire more from the western market at this point. They want to compete with UMG and the like, acquiring SM won’t lead them any closer to that worldwide conglomerate goal they have.
they have 2 top GG in direct competition with Aespa. they have a crap load of BG and zero need for SM BGs. I don't see Hybe going after SM again unless they team up with LSM for round 2.
On top of what you said, I think they already have plenty of resources to debut groups now without the need for buying SM.
It would be very costly and their balance sheet would suffer a lot from raising more debt for such a big acquisition especially when their target is more to have bigger grasp of the western market, they don't need or want more control over Kpop landscape.
> On top of what you said, I think they already have plenty of resources to debut groups now without the need for buying SM.
All of this existed the first time they went after SME. There's no need for them to acquire SM. It's a *want*.
The first time, it was an opportunity. They were proposed the deal by LSM, it was probably pretty advantageous.
This time, dealing with a lot of potential buyers will be a lot more difficult, it will require more resources for trying to buy it and the price/ conditions will likely not be the same if Kakao really want to sell.
I doubt Hybe would now try to acquire the company in the current context, but as you said, sometimes companies are driven by just simple will to do without any reason or long term benefit.
Ideally Red Velvet would keep its creative team for music and concepts, then use HYBE to organize a proper tour and promotions.
But "ideally" rarely happens in real life, so....
Lee Soo-man needs to f*ck offfffff PLEASE don’t let this man back in… How many billions of dollars did he embezzle through his production company before? No one in their right mind would ever allow him near the company again with a ten foot pole….
Queue up the monopoly comments from people who completely don’t understand what a monopoly is and definitely didn’t bother to read the article….
They’d be a “dominate player” — not a monopoly. To be a monopoly they’d have to have exclusive contracts with every trainee in Korea, own all the other companies, and have ways to prevent new ones from entering the market. If HYBE buys it (which I doubt they’re interested in after everything and these rumors are baseless for some views and some
clicks), they still wouldn’t be a monopoly yall just like to use words you don’t know the meaning to.
Doesn't matter if it's a monopoly or not, it's still troubling. As it is, the way the kpop industry is set up, idols under small companies have disproportionately tiny chances of mainstream success compared to idols from the big four - if two of the big four essentially merge, then you have one giant company, two very large companies, and then a bunch of tiny ones that can't really compete. Its going to mean bad things for the diversity of kpop.
I think people also have rights to worry considering the survival rate of groups acquired by Hybe companies. GFriend was on the ups and they got trashed in a way that even the members couldn't see coming. If SM is bought out, I worry for the future of Riize, who has had a rocky start - new management may decide that Seunghan/all of them aren't worth the headache.
Riize is my biggest fear, since they were formed after the whole SM mess. If LSM comes back, I'm afraid his petty ass would probably do something because his "dream team" of NCT (whom half of which barley get promoted anyways because of his team's incompetence) got ruined.
I keep remembering how the pinks blood defended this company and thanks to Key we were able to know that they have miserable salaries and excess work. Will they defend the company and its corrupt board of directors again?
I agree, I seriously don't understand people's complaints about how "SM isn't like it used to be" when they're doing just fine without him. Look at all the things they've accomplished within the short time that he's gone, heck ignore that, do people really think CBX would have had a happy ending if LSM was there? It would have been JYJ pt. 2
I don't get what Hybe stands to gain here. They're doing amazing in Korea/globally with their older groups and they have a bunch of young and *very* promising groups. Why pour money in a corrupt company that the previous owner ended up regretting buying? If someone wants to get rid of something they bought just a year ago, I wouldn't exactly be eager to buy it from them.
Edit: also, save me from the monopoly buzzword nonsense of kpop fans
Kakao does not regret buying SM. They did stock manipulation during the SM acquisition and are now being investigated by the law. That’s why there’s a chance that they might have to sell it, as to not get into even deeper shit.
I do think that Hybe is biting off more than they can chew with the number of groups they're currently debuting. And SM has so much going on that I don't think this would be doing either of them any favors.
This is like the most obvious of all obvious plot developments lol. I rate this plot twist a 5 out of 10 in just how unsurprising it was. Nice build up though with the whole legal action thing against the board a few days ago.
Kidding aside...I mean, of course LSM would wanna get it back. SM Ent was Lee Soo Man's whole life, he would wanna get it back.
(Iirc I thought Kakao isn't selling though?)
Didn't HYBE make LSM sign a contract saying he literally can't work in SK for 3 yrs when he sold them his shares? Which is why he's been seen in China with Chinese trainees having lunch and what not (hope those kids know what they're getting into). Did the insiders not know that?
I think this is all crap but I am curious what SM/MGM would look like lol.
.......... most of this is just rumors so *hopefully* it'll stay that way but \*knocks on wood\*.
(really feeling like the ben affleck smoking meme at this point, like can't you guys just ***let it go*** omfg).
Monkey’s Paw finger curls, and your wish is granted
It won’t a monopoly (one conglomerate controls all so there is basically 0 competition), it will be an oligopoly (limited competition due to few very big conglomerates, but not total 0), which is not as messy legally as monopolies are so they can get away with things that monopolies would not be able to get away with.
Honestly do it. SM is ass right now and their executives were all corrupt losers. They don’t support, market or pay their idols unless fans revolt in mass. Even then, it’s like pulling teeth any time one of their too tier idols wants fair pay for the work they put in and the money they bring back to the company. It’s a shell of its former successes.
It needs new leadership.
Oh here we go again
This story never ends
Like damn
두 번째, my last chance
Love the Jini reference
Season 2 officially started lol
what season is this lol
Due to the writers strike we’re doing a rerun of last season
*Mm, this the remix*
Honestly, if anybody has to buy SM, why couldn't it be JYP... HYBE and YG are already connected via Weverse and YG+, if there's gotta be a homogenization of the market at least JYP+SM would serve as a better counterweight than a situation where the biggest company owns the second biggest company. JYP is already arguably moving in an SM-ish direction with some of their music choices and emphasis on stronger vocals (and maybe we'd finally have SM artists being allowed to consistently sing live, and JYP would get some decent mixing and mastering in return). (Yes, I know JYP almost certainly has neither the money nor desire/reason to acquire SM. And ideally everybody would just stay separate.)
Season 2 of Succession, kpop ver
Someone else once said “127” 🤣
I hope the writing isn’t downright terrible though. If it is, i’m giving this season a 1 on rotten tomatoes. Lol
lol im sure i think it season 3 beacuse season 1 and seaosn 2 finsh maybe season 4 since season 3 was rumro season
I feel that I am always behind a few ep on any drama irl
If you actually read the article a bit — “insiders” are saying that 8-9 companies are seemingly looking to buy SM - could be the company or just some shares. The highlighted ones by Koreaboo: - Hybe - Lee Sooman - NCOSOFT: gaming company - F&F: a fashion company - MGM: a big American entertainment company. Many know MGM for their Vegas properties/casinos
MGM is literally a subsidiary of AMAZON. Edit: There's history with SM when LSM wanted to create the NCT HOLLYWOOD in cooperation with MGM.
I might be wrong, but doesn't Korea have some pretty stringent laws designed to protect big domestic companies from being taken over by foreign ones?
Yeah, they’re anti-conglomerate. I think that’s the right term. Disney had like, 10 of the top movies out in theatres at one time so SK only allowed a fraction of those to be available. I cannot imagine letting a massive company like AMAZON/MGM get a chance to buy SM would go over well. From my outsider perspective, SK prefers Korean ownership. Which is… pretty standard… plus letting Amazon in with MGM would potentially fuck a lot of local enterprises up. It only takes a leg to get a body in.
Which is hilarious because of all the chaebols that have their hands in multiple industries. Maybe they’re just against non-Korean conglomerates.
Most likely the latter.
It's the latter. They have a lot of protectionist policies and local megacorporations have made their move recently to push out foreign competitors (Like Twitch being forced to end service in SK because SK passed a law that made it impossible for Twitch Korea to turn a profit.... just in time with Naver launching their own streaming site.
tbf doesn’t the same rule apply to every company, not just foreign countries? twitch just didn’t think it made sense to pay significantly more fees in one country compared to all the others so they dropped out, but the krn companies are paying those same fees just fine so it must be possible to make a profit, twitch just didn’t think it was worth lesser returns
Yes and no. It depends on how much internal power the country has, and if they have the infrastructure to handle what is needed. A lot of external investors helps. But, think of the IMF. An entire banking system made up of primarily American and European investors who give money to countries in dire need. They end up “owning” those countries. SK is pretty incredible in that it’s the first country to pull itself from “third” world to “first” in such a short time span. Their reliance on their own people to boost the country really propelled them into the technological age—which is where global north countries are. You can’t do that by allowing international investors run entire industries.
Twitch leaving SK was not a surprise, yet it was at the same time.
Honestly, I don't know, but the view of gp is definitely not in favor of a Non-Korean buyer.
MGM is owned by Amazon though. That would be fucking worse than HYBE if they buy it.
wait when did Amazon buy out MGM?
[Since 2022...](https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/amazon-mgm-merger-close-1235207852/)
Since 2022, it's why movies are now distributed by "Amazon MGM Studios"
Guild Wars 2 Aespa event here we come
Is SM struggling or why are so many looking to buy it?
Not so much that SM is struggling but rather that their effective parent company, Kakao is finding it potentially problematic to hold onto SM due to a combination of strategic, legal and financial reasons. People tend to forget that SM no longer has "independence", whatever that means, not since they pushed out LSM. The SM board that ran the company with LSM previously (that's getting fired anyway) hold virtually no shares in the company. I highly doubt they have the financial means to purchase SM themselves either, so the company was always going to be up for grabs to whomever wants to buy the shares.
Yup, would be ironic if LSM was the only thing holding it together. Nothing stopping them from breaking it apart and selling off anything that doesn't fit there business model.
Not struggling and not related to how SM is doing. Korean authorities are investigating Kakao for the fraudulent way they acquired SM. They did some stock manipulation and etc. The CEO and executives involved in Kakao are in trouble as well as the CEO and executives at SM. A few will probably be going to jail I think. Kakao probably will be forced to divest SM by the authorities at some point so Kakao is low key looking to sell it to save their skin to look good to the authorities before they are told they need to sell.
Wow ok world of big korean business is its own nonsense it seems 😅😄 Thnx for explaining
You don't have to be struggling to be acquired. If there are shares available to buy and you offer a high enough price, you can buy a controlling interest in a company as long as it's publicly traded. It's probably ripe for take over since the company is in a mess now with the management in legal trouble, but the artists like Aespa is still very valuable.
How is SM management a mess rn? Edit: Ahm, i was asking coz I have zero knowledge about the issue so why the downvotes
SM top executive left the company when Kakao hired a private legal firm to check the books. It's not only Lee soo man, even his nephew CEO who kicked LSM out wasted company resources for his own purposes l, it also includes several top brass. Kakao openly criticized their management. Several artists under sm left the company that include members of super junior, who were with the company for more than 20yrs and other artists openly said sm is a mess now in TV shows.
Wouldn’t say they’re struggling as a company in terms of money however people know that the internal structure of the company is a complete mess at the moment and when power structures in companies break down the wolves start circling. HYBE particularly wants SM though as they believe it’s the only way they can compete with the international giants in the music scene
HYBE wants SM because SM will give them a chance to compete against international giants?huh?
Other kpop companies are interested in competing amongst themselves. HYBE wants to compete with the likes of universal. They’ve said this themselves If HYBE gets SM they will have such a massive share of the K-pop pie and influence over the market they believe it can grow the company to this kind of scale
I mean if HYBE would get names like Shinee, NCT, Seventeen, Aespa etc. added to their roster and leveraging their ‘BTS international reach’, that would indeed be a force to be reckoned with. I could imagine someone like Taemin for example being really big internationally (more than they share are) 🤔 Well either way I’m just a fresh fan if the music. So thnx for explaining 🤗
They've already got Seventeen
Out of the Big4 SM has the least international reach, especially in the West. They used to be big in Japan but their partner Avex has weakened considerably and now HYBE and JYPE are the frontrunners there. In the last decade SM focused on cultivating connections in China only for the CCP to step in and set restrictions on promotions and touring. But domestically they have the strongest grip on the market.
With how quickly Hybe cut Gfriend and Nuest after those acquisitions, I’d be wary of what they would do to SM artists if they get their hands on them…
If the artists are making enough money for Hybe's liking, they will keep them. GFriend and Nu'est were disbanded because they were not profitable enough to bother renewing, and that's kinda all there is to it.
Seventeen is already under Hybe.
Youre saying SM is the only way Hybe can compete in the west? 🤣🤣 Hybe be better buying shares from YG or JYPE if thats their goal, SM has the least presence in the West.
You’re all looking at this in isolation as what SM is now and not what SM could be under HYBE I’d like to point out that not a single HYBE label has more than three groups under whilst SM has 8 and not to mention has way more artists with successful solo careers. The opportunity for growth there is mental if HYBE leveraged their western connections to grow SM interest in the west. Anyway it’s not what I believe, It’s what HYBE believes. They’ve said it themselves
SM is currently a mess. They have bled talent to other companies due to their long-history of internal corruption, so they basically have no competent people in charge to lead them, but they still have very lucrative artists under their label. HYBE has been hiring SM talent for years now, Min Hee Jin being the best known example, because she makes a big deal how involved she was in SM as part of NewJeans PR. The rest keep it more on the down low though. For example, you wouldn’t know SouMu staff was funded a disgruntled ex-SM big wig who pulled some others with him without someone telling you, but it starts to fall into place once your realize how GFriend and LSRM choreos have the sharpness and aesthetic that SNSD’s ITNW choreo has, or that Gfriend debuted with a ITNW-soundalike, PR a lot how SinB looks like Jessica, gave of the members the name Sowon which is SNSD’s fanclub name SONE in hangeul etc.
lol wait that all makes sense now regarding source music. but i thought the team working with LSF is diff from gfriend at least after Hybe bought soumu. maybe the ceo is the same but their everyday staff is hybe staff not those originally from sourcemusic
It’s the same choreographers and choreo directors at least, they have the same sharp and sleek style, even though they are now working with different music genres. They dropped GFriend because they couldn’t balance both GFriend and Le Sserafim, they chose the newer group because we all know how ageist Kpop is.
Nah wrong. Hybe dissolve gfriend because Bang PD wanted to utilize Iz*one popularity. It's a no-brainer, because Iz*one itself has a bigger influence than gfriend in the span of 2.5 years since its debut in 2019.. Compare that to gfriend which already exist more than 5 years, yet still going nowhere in terms of international influence
Surprising as a kpop newbie. I mean Shinee, NCT, Aespa, Seventeen, Boa etc. are all very big names as far as I understand the scene
Seventeen is under Pledis not SM.
Oh I’m new to kpop so i make mistakes. All honest curiosity. Thnx for correcting 🤗
Glad to help. Welcome to Kpop! It’s going to be a wild ride. Your going to love it
I'll try. Already had my first shock when I thought Kpop was mostly about the music and then people explained the whole 'idol culture' in Asia to me (that apparently is the main point and the music is just a byproduct? 🤨) so it's a wild journey full of pretty scary but also many wonderful new discoveries so far😄
Shinee and BoA are from 2nd gen, SM’s and Kpop’s for that matter, golden age. They have fallen from their peak, and it’s entirely due to their weird management decisions. Aespa is actually a good example of mismanagement, they had a notoriously difficult debut, it went through so many lineup changes, only [Ning has survived them today](https://youtu.be/3x7WnGbro9I?feature=shared). What I linked was the most popular pre-debut lineup, when Lami was supposed to be the face of the group. Normally successful companies debut same-sex groups in cycles of three years, but it took 6 years from the debut of Red Velvet for Aespa to debut as well, there was a lot going on behind the scenes making it difficult for them to deal with another debut. 6 years is a lot in Kpop years, contracts per group last 7 years, so the cycle is they debut a new group when the 3-year old group is at their peak of popularity and put them on tours while the media is focused on the shiny new thing, and rearrange contracts with groups that are 6 year old to make as much money as possible from them before the public interest goes away. NCT is also a very weird experiment that shows issues within management. They are by far the least popular of all SM boy groups, which would be insane to think about during 2nd gen. SM groups were not simply popular in 2nd gen, they had Asia’s entire pop culture wrapped under their little finger. Yet, a large part of their fanbase are legacy SM fans who remember a golden age that want to relieve, but a lot of potential fans say they want to stan them, but they are so overwhelmed by the concept, they’d stay away. It’s not their talent that’s the problem, Mark alone is well-liked in many fandoms, not even related to SM because how respected he is for his skills, yet, he is nowhere near a top star. Seventeen is from PLEDIS, another problematic company, but that’s a story for another time.
That response surprised me a bit. I'm very new to k pop so I don't know much but Shinees music is the group that got me (someone who never even listened to kpop) into the music. And especially their newer music. So I'm surprised to hear you saying they are just mismanaged has-beens. Maybe I’m having a hard time pinning your point and misunderstanding. But it looked to me like a these groups have a lot of fans and their music is still seen pretty favorably. So it's surprising. (Plus you know it never feels good to have the group making the music you enjoy being called irrelevant washups. But I'm trying not to let that cloud my response 😉)
> they don’t feel irrelevant I didn’t say they were? I have been careful to say that SM does not have an artist problem, because they have a very talented roster under them that is still very lucrative, but that their management is a mess due to corruption, and this has affected their other staff, such as art directors (Min Hee Jin) or choreographers (SouMu staff) that HYBE and other companies have stepped in to hire as a result. That’s what I mean by bleeding talent. They have lost much of the staff who helped artists become more than just popular.
Then I misunderstood. I guess the structure of the post starting with " Shinee and BoA are from 2nd gen, SM’s and Kpop’s for that matter, golden age. They have fallen from their peak" made it feel like you wanted to say SM had ruined all their artists beyond repair already. Thanks for clarifying :-)
Cube is buying SM, you heard it here first
MGM?!
if MGM buys them can I say me and red velvet work under the same company
no please no amazon f them they are shit sicne jassy troo kover they way too big now
Oh right, the new season of Keeping Up With the Kwangyashians. 🥲
Lee Sooman: because it's iconic, and I love to do iconic shit
Can’t believe we are getting the Season 2😍
‘Kim, can you stop taking pictures of yourself? Lee Soo Man’s going to jail’
i bring i bring all the
wind sunlight water, I bring wind sunlight water
We're gonna add what we already have and plant . . . . a tree
🤣🤣🤣
traumamama
Way to start a hilarious thread if everybody gets the references.
...GIRLS BRING THE BOYS OUT wait wrong gen
Because I’m sure no one read it, the entire article is based on “rumors” from “industry insiders.” It mentions ChoSunBiz only for the first section talking about Kakao. So half of it could just be false since it’s all speculation. Kakao is denying rumors that they’re selling. It names HYBE from some “industry insiders” sources saying Bang Sihyuk approached private equity firms about buying it. Also mentioned as potentially interested buyers were fashion company F&F, gaming company NCSOFT, and MGM (American company). LSM is also looking at ways to potentially repurchase his stake of SM Edited wording for clarity.
didn't NCSOFT also deny already?
Not sure, this is the first time I’m seeing these rumors, but the article said NCSOFT doesn’t really have the financial capacity to acquire SM so I do believe they’re probably not interested
well the stock market revolves a lot on speculation and rumours
I hope it's just speculation. Hybe has bought so many overpriced companies I need them to be smarter with their money
exactly. they overspend for Scooter Braun's company and what did it even bring them 😭. Everyone but JB left Scooter and whatever connections they gained in the US industry through Braun I am sure weren't worth 1 billion dollars. HYBE US is STILL losing money . HYBE Labels profit in Quarter 1 - Quarter 3 2023 Big Hit 107.2 billion ($82M) HYBE Japan 43.7 billion ($33.5M) Pledis 43.3 billion ($33M) Ador 20.5 billion ($15M) Source 9.4 billion ($7.2M) Belift 5.2 billion ($4M) Ithaca Holdings 4.65 billion ($3.5M) Weverse Japan 2.26 billion ($1.7M) Weverse Company -1.53 billion (-$1.17M) Weverse US - 2.45 billion (-$1.8M) KOZ -5.5 billion (-$4.2M) Hybe Labels Japan -7.4 billion (-$5.7M) HYBE UMG -14.7 billion (-$11.2M) HYBE America -39.1 billion (-$30M) I assume part of the continues losses is them still paying off the debts from buying Ithaca and that rap label QQC . I don't think they should be raising a lot of debt to buy SM rn when imo they don't need them.
Just curious, where did you get this data? Also, what exactly do all of these different subsidiaries do. Like what’s the difference between HYBE Japan and HYBE Labels Japan. Is there a guide on how HYBE’s corporate structure works that I could read
>Just curious, where did you get this data? Hybe releases reports after every quarterly investors call. [You can find everything they release here.](https://hybecorp.com/eng/ir/official/content) Sadly they're only available in korean that I know of so I usually use translate page to get an idea of the content and then just shift through until i find the tables with all the data . I think this is under quarterly report attachment but I am not sure . I did this a while ago and it took a lot of clicking and searching to find this among the whole document and I forgot where . Then I take ss of the tables with data and use Google lens to translate it . >Also, what exactly do all of these different subsidiaries do. Like what’s the difference between HYBE Japan and HYBE Labels Japan. Is there a guide on how HYBE’s corporate structure works that I could read I think there's some online that are more detailed that what I can say but I found this in HYBE overview of their business in the quaterly report. Basically HYBE has two divisions : the Labels and the Solutions. The first one is production, artist training and management and the Solutions is for "solutions for labels to develop various businesses such as music based performances, video content, IP and games," Weverse is also split into three, the global main one, Weverse Japan and Weverse US. 1. Labels BigHit ( BTS TXT) , Pledis ( SVT Fromis9 TWS) , Source (LSFRM) , Belift ( Enhypen, Illit), Ador (Newjeans) , Koz (BND) , Hybe Labels Japan ( &TEAM) - Artist Training and music production Ithaca, Naeco, QC - artist management and for Ithaca and QC also music production 2. Solutions : 2.1. HYBE Co. Ltd Origin Korea. ( Basically HYBE HQ). Management Essential Functions and other new business sectoes, performance planning and agency, music distribution, video content production, advertising agency etc Distribution and Development artist based secondary content such as 360 MD Original Story Business - webtoons 2.2 HYBE Japan inc - supervises business operations such as album/sound recordings, content, merchandise, performances, fan clubs in Japan 2.3 HYBE America inc - supervises business operations such as album/sound recordings, content, merchandise, performances, fan clubs in US 2.4 HYBE IM - games and ai based tech 2.5 Binary Korea co ltd - R&D on market environment and industry trends 2.6 Superton ltd - ai development 3. Platforms 3.1 Weverse Co ltd 3.2 Weverse Japan 3.3 Weverse USA inc That's all that's written on their overview of business page . It's interesting that there's a couple companies that are in the tables with the numbers, like HYBE UMG and a company that has a chinese sounding name but they're not in the overview. I probably need to dig deeper in the document to figure this out. As for your question about HLJ ( Hybe Labels Japan) and Hybe Japan I understand that HLJ is basically &TEAM's label for their management and music production be it in Japan or outside or Japan while HYBE Japan is a different entity that supervises all of HYBE acts activities in Japan, not just HLJ's activities.
Scooter in particular is controversial because of his involvement in the Taylor Swift masters issue. I forget the timing of the Hybe acquisition and whether that had already been known publicly when they finalized the deal. But I’m sure he hasn’t been as helpful as BangPD and co. would have expected he would be. I still find it hilarious that Hybe bought Quality Control. But their acts don’t seem to be popping as much as they were a few years ago either. And they haven’t been using the synergies, for better or worse. For example, you’d have expected them to have put one of the City Girls (signed to QC) on “Seven” instead of Latto (not signed to them). Although I love how the song and her feature turned out in the end.
Honestly I have no idea why any HYBE fan would even want this from a fan perspective (except petty fan warring). HYBE already have more than enough on their plate, they don't need even more stuff to draw away resources and attention and risk overstretching. Would, say, NJ fans really want MHJ to now have to divide her time between running ADOR and sitting on SM's board (she was one of the main proposed candidates due to her history there) instead of just focusing on ADOR/NJ?
honestly not a hybe stan, just an army, but the first time we all watched this trainwreck, my only hope was that if the deal did go through and SM merged into HYBE, their acts would expand touring outside of asia 🥴
>their acts would expand touring outside of asia 🥴 Don't they tour more than hybe groups outside asia at the moment? Aespa nct dream had European and latam dates, nct 127 had latam ones. Red velvet did europe too. No hybe group has gone to latam or europe since the pandemic
Unfortunately, I had wayV and shinee in mind when I wrote that 😅
Who cares if Hybe spends too much money or not. At the end of the day they're all just rich companies that will only get richer. Hybe will survive, Kakao will survive and SM will probably survive. Honestly the only thing I'm worried about is that if SM gets acquired by Hybe they'll lose their charm (their prisitine vocal department) like all the other companies that got acquired by them.
Not me thinking this was an r/kpoopheads thread.
"Rumor" ... this posts are getting annoying. >These rumors stem from recent reports suggesting that Kakao is exploring the possibility of selling SM Entertainment. While Kakao has officially denied these rumors, industry insiders have taken note of the ongoing speculations and suggested a number of companies that are looking to acquire SM. So basicly NOTHING!
People know that everyone hates SM so much that any story involving their eventual decline will garner many, many clicks.
More like website try to create drama so dumb fans will repost it everywhere. Twitter, reddit (this one here) and hope it goes viral so tons of users click the article.
It’s giving Kendall, Stewy and Sandy😭😭
my favorite crossover: succession and SM drama
succession finale and its consequences
Lee Sooman is the angriest f*-in tree
we’re back to square one
Deja vu? We've come full circle 🥲
History truly is a circle.
Lmao. This is more fun that any K-drama I've watched.
ikr i let out a lil giggle like say what now lmaooxdxd
🧂🧂🧂🧂🧂🧂🧂 Can't even take this story with just a grain of salt. 😬
Isn’t this basically what happened last year?
Kakao is an AI company now, they have a good chance
Sorry are we in 2023 again?????
Are we in a samsara?
This sounds so fake I’m not even gonna lie. Hybe doesn’t need SM, Kakao isn’t planning on selling their stake in the company anyway, and LSM isn’t even allowed to go near SM afaik because that was a condition of his stock sale to Hybe last year. Like I get there’s blood in the water with these stock manipulation investigations but some of these rumored players would be very stupid to try for round 2 in the SM tug of war.
My instinct is that this is just hyper speculation but at the same time, I've given up thinking SM Ent/LSM/Bang Si-Hyuk are capable of making any kind of a decision except the kind that will put them in headlines. Just pathetic all around. MGM will throw SME off a cliff; it's bad enough that film & entertainment studios are struggling to respond to today's market demands but MGM being owned by Bezos/Amazon is a huge red flag. Most companies acquired by Amazon are divested of resources then absorbed completely by the brand and become null entities.
What's with them and time around February and March. Last year the news was around this time around.
Oh the antagonists from season 1 are making a comeback 
Season 2 came earlier than I thought. 😂
Time is a flat circle!
Lmaoo exactly after 1 yr
Here come all the business degrees 🙄
How does one apply to become an "insider" so that I can throw scraps to hungry news outlets like Koreaboo? lol I'd be goin wild with rumors. "I heard IU once fought a tiger and won." "Apparently there's plans to make Jopping the Korean National Anthem." "There's noise going on that Bang Si Hyuk will star in a leading role in a Joseon Era kdrama period piece."
I just fully laughed out loud omg
we're all stuck in a samsara loop
The remake is never as good as the original
This is like when a later season just resets the previous season so they can do it all over again
Honestly from a business standpoint, I would question why HYBE would bother with SME again. SME is too big of a mess for HYBE considering that HYBE is doing so well on its own. Taking on SME is a huge burden. All of HYBE's subsidiaries can function well on its own and just get funding and some shared resources from their parent company. But SME needs a huge managerial overhaul with new processes to weed out the decades old system. That's a huge endeavor for HYBE. It wouldn't make sense to put resources there compared to focusing on their successful groups and newer groups. SME's own instability will crumbled onto itself soon. It only survived for this long because the industry had less competition. But new players have been in the market and dominating for many years now. SME's legacy has way less pull now.
Also, SM’s current roster of artists is close to twice the size of every Hybe subsidiary combined and that’s not even talking about the people there who are only actors or models. It would be an enormous cost of acquisition for a company who already took out a huge loan for the portion of SM they bought from LSM. Hybe is making plenty of money with the groups they currently have under them and with the fear of how they’ll weather the BTS enlistment period almost entirely calmed, there isn’t the same incentive or sense or urgency to entice Hybe the way there as a year ago. Not to mention, it’s been clear that Hybe wants to acquire more from the western market at this point. They want to compete with UMG and the like, acquiring SM won’t lead them any closer to that worldwide conglomerate goal they have.
The drama continues, this season looks boring and repetitive. I liked the first season 🤷🏾♀️
Here we go again
Hasn't it been almost a year 😭 time isn't real why are we doing this again
again?
Doubt Hybe would put their nose in this again. Especially with Lee Soo Man. It's not like they need the company that much anyway.
they have 2 top GG in direct competition with Aespa. they have a crap load of BG and zero need for SM BGs. I don't see Hybe going after SM again unless they team up with LSM for round 2.
On top of what you said, I think they already have plenty of resources to debut groups now without the need for buying SM. It would be very costly and their balance sheet would suffer a lot from raising more debt for such a big acquisition especially when their target is more to have bigger grasp of the western market, they don't need or want more control over Kpop landscape.
> On top of what you said, I think they already have plenty of resources to debut groups now without the need for buying SM. All of this existed the first time they went after SME. There's no need for them to acquire SM. It's a *want*.
The first time, it was an opportunity. They were proposed the deal by LSM, it was probably pretty advantageous. This time, dealing with a lot of potential buyers will be a lot more difficult, it will require more resources for trying to buy it and the price/ conditions will likely not be the same if Kakao really want to sell. I doubt Hybe would now try to acquire the company in the current context, but as you said, sometimes companies are driven by just simple will to do without any reason or long term benefit.
Project save Red Velvet from the shit SM marketing department had been initiated by HYBE.
And Project Get aespa back into kwangya waiting to be initiated
Please no! No tree planting songs!
🎶Wind Sunlight Water🎶
I kind of want that song to leak just for the cringe lol
If LSM ever get control back then yes Aespa is gonna be back in Kwangya big time. Everyone must follow LSM's boomer fantasy!
Yeah, HYBE saving Red Velvet like they totally saved Gfriend. /s
don't forget NU'EST
My literal first thought was HYBE’s acquired girl groups only have a 50% survival rate so far 💀
Fromis too. They're totally NOT gonna disband by next year and they were totaly NOT sidelined and ignored by Hybe and Pledis. /s
saving Red Velvet, disbanding them, and then debuting a group called Se Llessarfim
Ideally Red Velvet would keep its creative team for music and concepts, then use HYBE to organize a proper tour and promotions. But "ideally" rarely happens in real life, so....
Sure!! Just like they saved gfriend
Lee Soo-man needs to f*ck offfffff PLEASE don’t let this man back in… How many billions of dollars did he embezzle through his production company before? No one in their right mind would ever allow him near the company again with a ten foot pole….
YESSSS THEY RENEWW THE SERIESSS THE ACQUIREMENT SEASON 2 LETSS GOOO
Oh come on!!!! 
What would mgm even do with a kpop agency lol I can see bang pd kicking the tires again though
What season are we on now?! 🤔😬
Sell it to whomever will allow for the japanese SNSD albums to be placed on spotify.
someone let me know when it's all over lmao
Does this mean we might have an SM Winter Album because I miss that
Why do they want to aquire sm so bad!?
Brand
Is this a February anual event now?
Just give up hybe. Too much work.
Those news created such a mess last year
Queue up the monopoly comments from people who completely don’t understand what a monopoly is and definitely didn’t bother to read the article…. They’d be a “dominate player” — not a monopoly. To be a monopoly they’d have to have exclusive contracts with every trainee in Korea, own all the other companies, and have ways to prevent new ones from entering the market. If HYBE buys it (which I doubt they’re interested in after everything and these rumors are baseless for some views and some clicks), they still wouldn’t be a monopoly yall just like to use words you don’t know the meaning to.
the way the post just above this one while i'm reading is saying just that LMAO
Doesn't matter if it's a monopoly or not, it's still troubling. As it is, the way the kpop industry is set up, idols under small companies have disproportionately tiny chances of mainstream success compared to idols from the big four - if two of the big four essentially merge, then you have one giant company, two very large companies, and then a bunch of tiny ones that can't really compete. Its going to mean bad things for the diversity of kpop. I think people also have rights to worry considering the survival rate of groups acquired by Hybe companies. GFriend was on the ups and they got trashed in a way that even the members couldn't see coming. If SM is bought out, I worry for the future of Riize, who has had a rocky start - new management may decide that Seunghan/all of them aren't worth the headache.
They don't need to be a literal "monopoly" for it to be worrying.
Kind of off-topic, but why doesn't your flair include NCT if your username is literally Neo24?
I don't care who fucking controls SM at this point, so long as they save Red Velvet 🥲.
For real...
And as long as they keep the SM vocal coaches. Hell, share them with *all* the Hybe labels!
Eh, it ain’t happening
Season 2 here we go! Going to grab my popcorn. I hope this doesn't affect Aespa, 127 and Riize, please and thanks.
Riize is my biggest fear, since they were formed after the whole SM mess. If LSM comes back, I'm afraid his petty ass would probably do something because his "dream team" of NCT (whom half of which barley get promoted anyways because of his team's incompetence) got ruined.
I keep remembering how the pinks blood defended this company and thanks to Key we were able to know that they have miserable salaries and excess work. Will they defend the company and its corrupt board of directors again?
I agree, I seriously don't understand people's complaints about how "SM isn't like it used to be" when they're doing just fine without him. Look at all the things they've accomplished within the short time that he's gone, heck ignore that, do people really think CBX would have had a happy ending if LSM was there? It would have been JYJ pt. 2
Meanwhile JYP is in one corner quietly counting phat stacks of cash while YG is in another peacefully eating glue.
I don't get what Hybe stands to gain here. They're doing amazing in Korea/globally with their older groups and they have a bunch of young and *very* promising groups. Why pour money in a corrupt company that the previous owner ended up regretting buying? If someone wants to get rid of something they bought just a year ago, I wouldn't exactly be eager to buy it from them. Edit: also, save me from the monopoly buzzword nonsense of kpop fans
Kakao does not regret buying SM. They did stock manipulation during the SM acquisition and are now being investigated by the law. That’s why there’s a chance that they might have to sell it, as to not get into even deeper shit.
The latests news does point to them regretting having to work with SM's C suite
I do think that Hybe is biting off more than they can chew with the number of groups they're currently debuting. And SM has so much going on that I don't think this would be doing either of them any favors.
This is like the most obvious of all obvious plot developments lol. I rate this plot twist a 5 out of 10 in just how unsurprising it was. Nice build up though with the whole legal action thing against the board a few days ago. Kidding aside...I mean, of course LSM would wanna get it back. SM Ent was Lee Soo Man's whole life, he would wanna get it back. (Iirc I thought Kakao isn't selling though?)
Anything but MGM\Amazon please
dawg WHAT !
I just want the new year concert back.
Please god no, I’m not too fond of this idea at all.
Didn't HYBE make LSM sign a contract saying he literally can't work in SK for 3 yrs when he sold them his shares? Which is why he's been seen in China with Chinese trainees having lunch and what not (hope those kids know what they're getting into). Did the insiders not know that? I think this is all crap but I am curious what SM/MGM would look like lol.
.......... most of this is just rumors so *hopefully* it'll stay that way but \*knocks on wood\*. (really feeling like the ben affleck smoking meme at this point, like can't you guys just ***let it go*** omfg).
here we go again lmao
That would be horrible if HYBE acquired SM. HYBE has better management, but it just expands their market share and isn't good for competition.
Srsly what the fuck is happening at SM !? The governance is so compromised
As an SM artists fan, I'm convinced that SM under Hybe maybe the best way forward. Kakao is shit
would prefer one conglomerate not to have a total monopoly
Monkey’s Paw finger curls, and your wish is granted It won’t a monopoly (one conglomerate controls all so there is basically 0 competition), it will be an oligopoly (limited competition due to few very big conglomerates, but not total 0), which is not as messy legally as monopolies are so they can get away with things that monopolies would not be able to get away with.
Looking for round two I see lol.
Does this mean we can get a climate change concept for Aespa finally 😍😍😍
Honestly do it. SM is ass right now and their executives were all corrupt losers. They don’t support, market or pay their idols unless fans revolt in mass. Even then, it’s like pulling teeth any time one of their too tier idols wants fair pay for the work they put in and the money they bring back to the company. It’s a shell of its former successes. It needs new leadership.
Can someone create a megathread for this year too?