“Unlike HYBE, cocoa respects us” – K-GEN
As expected, SM Entertainment showed its support for Kakao’s acquisition of the agency.
On March 7th, we learned that HYBE’s bid to acquire new shares in SM Entertainment had fallen through as the company only received an additional 0.98% stake instead of HYBE’s expected 25%.
Kakao subsequently announced its intention to become the majority shareholder of SM Entertainment and double-take HYBE.
The financial media announce that Kakao plans to become the majority shareholder of SM by buying back 35% of the company’s shares, since it is known that Kakao already owns 5%.
Given that Kakao was SM Entertainment’s partner in transitioning to the SM 3.0 plan and marking a break with Lee Soo Man’s mismanagement, it’s no surprise that the agency is showing its support for Kakao’s acquisition.
As a reminder, Kakao, in fact, wants to keep SM Entertainment intact by allowing the agency to continue its projects, giving more activities to its artists and not touching the company’s organizational chart, unlike HYBE, which explicitly wanted to change direction.
On March 7th, the management of SM Entertainment issued a press release where we can read:
“We express our support for Kakao’s announced takeover bid for SM shares. Unlike HYBE, which seeks to dominate SM’s board of directors through a hostile takeover, Kakao respects us and respects SM’s unique tradition and identity, guaranteeing autonomous and independent operations and continued activity for artists. Kakao supports the independent management recommended by the SM management at the AGM. We believe that Kakao, who supports the current board, is the optimal strategic partner for the successful implementation of SM 3.0.
SM looks forward to the never-ending expansion of SM’s IP content by enhancing its platform capabilities through the collaboration with Kakao.
SM’s content will be streamed through Kakao’s IT resources and platforms, and the integrated fan platform will be able to provide high-quality content and platform ecosystem through technical cooperation with Kakao.
We have faith in the management and staff of Kakao, as well as the competitiveness of Kakao, which can expand SM’s powerful intellectual property through various platforms and the convergence of artificial intelligence technologies worldwide.
Going forward, together with Kakao, we will smoothly promote the promised SM 3.0 strategy to shareholders, SM members, fans and artists. We will take a leap forward as a fan and shareholder-centric global entertainment company and continue to expand enterprise value and shareholder return policy. »
Source: Sportsdonga
