Lee Soo Man files lawsuit against SM Entertainment Soompi
Lee Soo Man will obviously file a complaint against SM Entertainment.
A few days ago, SM Entertainment Co-CEOs Lee Sung Soo and Tak Young Joon revealed the agency’s plans for 2023.
They also confirmed that Lee Soo Man no longer holds a position within the agency.
Lee Soo Man’s departure promised a change, as the co-CEOs announced a new setup where multiple production teams would manage the agency’s artists, multiplying each artist’s activity in the agency and diversifying comebacks, but also themselves relying on multiple producers to make decisions about the direction of comebacks and the concepts of the groups to allow for renewal within the agency.
Despite it all, Lee Soo Man remains the company’s majority shareholder for the time being, making him a figure with ultimate decision-making rights over all of the agency’s artists, whether it’s blocking activity or banning comebacks at will, but also the odd concept in spite of the Force decisions of all producers of the agency and the artists themselves.
However, this may change. In fact, Kakao just acquired a 9.05% stake in SM Entertainment, which will threaten Lee Soo Man’s position as the controlling shareholder.
The proposal to sell shares in Kakao was reportedly proposed to SM Entertainment by Align Partners, a group of shareholders within the agency that has opposed Lee Soo Man’s practices and has notably called for Lee Soo’s company to pull out in the past had Man’s production company, which many believed to be a fake company used by Lee Soo Man to embezzle money since he donated 50% of SM Entertainment’s profits there.
From Lee Soo Man’s side, this decision to make Kakao an important part of SM Entertainment is a difficult one to say goodbye, given that the SM Entertainment founder is said to be very touched by the announcement. CEOs, the latter apparently not having been informed in advance that he will be removed from his position as producer within the agency.
Because the co-CEOs sold stakes in Kakao without consulting majority shareholder Lee Soo Man, Lee Soo Man plans to file a lawsuit against SM Entertainment.
Lee Soo Man’s legal representative said:
“We will fundamentally block any illegal attempts by the board of SM through injunctions to restrict the issuance of further illegal shares. It is clearly an unlawful act by the Board of SM, led by its Co-CEOs, to issue new shares to a third party in a situation where a management rights dispute is pending, in violation of commercial law. »
Source: xportsnews
