Founder Bang Si Hyuk Claims It Was Not His Intention For HYBE To Acquire SM Entertainment All Along
It has not been long since HYBE announced they would not acquire SM Entertainment. After a long-drawn battle over management and shares, they concluded they would try to approach a partnership with SM Entertainment in business platforms instead.
Through a media statement on March 15, 2023, HYBE founder Bang Si Hyuk made a shocking revelation about his personal views. He declared that although it was not his personal goal to have acquired SM Entertainment, he needed to think about things from the perspective of the company.
It was not my personal vision to acquire SM Entertainment.
Since 2019, HYBE has been putting its finger on acquiring SM Entertainment. HYBE made offers twice but was rejected. There were both support and opposition internally regarding the acquisition. Those who supported it, felt that there was a need to lean on their power to broaden our global outreach. The opposition felt that it would be better just to invest that huge amount of money in the future for the global market. In that moment, as the leader, I decided that we need to look towards the future, and that it is unsure if this is necessary to us now. And so, we got further from an acquisition [back then].
— Bang Si Hyuk
After being rejected twice, HYBE had put to rest their thoughts on acquisition for the moment. It was then that Lee Soo Man suddenly contacted Bang Si Hyuk.
He asked me about my thoughts on acquiring stocks and many of the factors that were against the acquisition of SM Entertainment had gone away then. I thought that it was alright at that moment [for the acquisition] so I agreed to it. The competitive and overheated battle for acquisition that erupted after that was not expected. I decided that we could not enter this while looking at a war that messed up the order of the market and damaged the shareholders’ value.
— Bang Si Hyuk
Lastly, Bang Si Hyuk feels regretful towards the artists and fans.
We were thinking of a better future for the artists and fans as we began this, but as the management, we are sorry for not being able to do that in the process. I was so sorry about causing bother to the fans and artists so much so that I couldn’t sleep at night.
— Bang Si Hyuk
More on the results of the intense battle can be read about below.
Kakao Will Acquire SM Entertainment: HYBE To Pursue Platform Business Partnership Instead
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