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Korea’s Hybe Completes Purchase of 14.8% Stake in Rival SM

A logo of SM Entertainment is seen at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP)
A logo of SM Entertainment is seen at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP)
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Korea’s Hybe Completes Purchase of 14.8% Stake in Rival SM

A logo of SM Entertainment is seen at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP)
A logo of SM Entertainment is seen at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP)

Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS, said Wednesday that it has completed its acquisition of a 14.8% stake in rival SM Entertainment, making it SM’s largest single shareholder.

The acquisition was finalized even as SM Entertainment accused Hybe staging a hostile takeover to control the firm by purchasing shares from Lee Soo-man, SM’s founder. Lee's influence in the firm has waned after an activist fund successfully campaigned for stricter oversight of its corporate governance.

Hybe earlier said it plans to purchase a further 25% of SM shares from investors at 120,000 won per share, which would take its total stake to almost 40%.

In an open letter to “fans, artists, employees and shareholders” of SM Entertainment on Wednesday, Hybe CEO Park Jiwon said that SM will move to become a company with a “transparent governance structure that prioritizes shareholder value.”

SM will be given “complete autonomy” when it comes to creative work akin to the other labels operated by Hybe, he said.

He said Hybe would also actively support SM artists’ endeavors. SM is behind popular K-pop acts such as boy-group NCT and girl-group aespa.

On Monday, SM’s CFO Jang Cheol-hyuk published a YouTube video criticizing Hybe’s takeover bid, arguing that such a move would lead to a monopolization of the industry, rising costs for fans. SM’s artists might be at a disadvantage to Hybe’s artists, he said.

Combined, both SM and Hybe account for 70% of revenues from albums and digital music in the K-pop industry.

“A lot of indicators of market share imply that HYBE’s acquisition of SM will undermine fair competition, which clearly shows that this acquisition is unfair,” Jang said. “Ultimately, K-pop fans will be the ones that will be most affected by the monopoly.”

Hybe’s bid for a bigger stake in SM came days after technology firm Kakao Corp said it would buy a 9.05% stake in SM through a rights offering and convertible shares and become a strategic partner of SM. SM had planned to expand its IP monetization and leverage Kakao’s messaging, social and entertainment platforms.

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Entertainment

Netflix’s ‘Missing You’ Lands in Time for New Year Binge Watch

In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
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Netflix’s ‘Missing You’ Lands in Time for New Year Binge Watch

In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)

It’s Netflix’s resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.

Since 2020, the streamer has released a UK miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: “Fool Me Once,” starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.

2025’s seasonal suspense series is “Missing You,” based on Coben’s 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar (“Slow Horses”) as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.

“They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them,” says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. “People have ownership over the show now, so like, ‘I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year’s Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.’”

“It’s perfect timing for the release, to be honest,” says co-star Ashley Walters. “Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day.”

The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.

“I’ve ghosted people before,” laughs Armitage. “Just people you don’t want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though.”

Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn’t a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.

“I’d just feel too guilty,” she admits, calling it “cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!”

Eleazar promises twists and turns along the way, adding that the actors weren’t initially given the final two scripts and had to turn to the book to find out what happens.

Coben “really is a genius at taking you up the wrong track,” says Eleazar. “You’re so sure that this time you’ve got it right and it’s this person or this thing, but you are inevitably always wrong.”

“I would love to know, actually, how he starts a book, you know? Does it start with an idea or does he think of the most inconceivable idea and go, ‘That’s how it’s going to end’?” she adds.

Armitage agrees that “Missing You” does justice to the “hair-raising” shock ending of the book; “It’s like the rug is pulled away at the last minute.”

And while audiences at home can binge-watch the whole five-part series as 2025 is still finding its feet, the cast will be busy with a variety of pastimes.

Lenny Henry, who portrays Kat’s father, jokes that he usually wakes up to a new year surrounded by roast potatoes, while wearing pajamas.

Armitage likes to be outside and start fresh by skiing down a mountain, while Eleazar has plans to celebrate in style: She and a group of friends have a tradition where they rent a castle and dress up in themed costumes.

Past New Year's Eve parties have included donning 18th century garb in France and last year’s Versace-themed fete.

“I will be celebrating and really hoping that everyone loves this show on the 1st,” she says.