K-pop supergroup BTS’ management agency Hybe Co yesterday said it would discontinue its acquisition process of rival SM Entertainment Co, ending a weeks-long fight for management rights over the company.
Hybe has been competing with South Korean Internet giant Kakao Corp after purchasing a nearly 15 percent stake in SM from its founder, Lee Soo-man, last month, which prompted the company’s shares to more than double in a month.
“In light of recent developments, Hybe discussed the matters with Kakao and reached an agreement to suspend the process of acquiring SM’s management rights,” the agency said in a statement.
Photo: AP
It cited the “potential negative impact” on Hybe’s shareholder value as reason, saying that the competition with Kakao had fueled “overheating of the market” and that the price of acquiring SM had exceeded the fair acquisition price range.
“Concurrently, the two companies agreed to cooperate on matters related to their platforms,” the company said.
SM welcomed the decision and thanked shareholders, fans, employees and artists for their support “throughout the unexpected turmoil over the past few weeks.”
SM was founded by Lee Soo-man, who is widely referred to as “the godfather of K-pop” and credited for producing key figures in an earlier generation of artists, such as BoA, Girls’ Generation and TVXQ, which paved the way for the industry’s current success.
However, hints of a power struggle eked out when SM’s co-CEOs — including Lee’s nephew Lee Sung-soo — announced new plans for the company that notably excluded him, which led to the founder’s sale of his shares to Hybe.
The move made Hybe the single largest shareholder in SM.
However, SM’s management contended that it amounted to a hostile takeover that would create an Hybe monopoly and damage the K-pop industry’s massive potential.
In a bid to wrest back control, SM’s management brought in Kakao, a cash-rich tech conglomerate that owns South Korea’s most popular messaging app and had been seeking to buy a controlling share of the company to block Hybe.
SM is scheduled to hold a shareholder meeting on March 31.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS