K-Pop’s Corporate Clash: HYBE’s Battle for SM Entertainment Gets Rougher

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief HYBE Corp., the talent firm behind K-pop sensation BTS, has launched a campaign to woo the shareholders of SM Entertainment, the rival Korean talent empire in which it is poised become the largest single shareholder.

In a letter and video package, issued Thursday, HYBE said that it was launching a campaign website detailing its business strategy and the ways in which it plans to prioritize SM shareholders.

The documents directly criticized SM’s current management and also struck out at Korean entertainment-tech giant Kakao, with which SM has recently struck an alliance. “HYBE’s campaign is to protect shareholder value from inappropriate actions by the current management at SM.

It aims to put an end to an unequal partnership contract with Kakao, unrealistic and unsubstantiated financial projections, and emotional messages that gloss over public opinion, all of which the current SM management initiated,” HYBE said.