Bang Si Hyuk, the chairman of HYBE, opened up about the recent acquisition of SM Entertainment.
On the 2nd (local time), Bang appeared on CNN’s Quest Means Business, hosted by Richard Quest, to address concerns over a potential “monopoly” or “oligopoly” of the K-pop Industry.
In an interview with very direct questions, Bang Si Hyuk gave professional and concise answers. Regarding the ongoing uproar surrounding the SM acquisition and the criticism of HYBE trying to monopolize the K-pop business, “First of all, it wouldn’t be correct to say that we’re trying to take over the whole industry,” Bang replied. “You might assume that it’s sold mostly in Korea, excluding all the international orders, even though purchasing agencies, with all the CDs sold in Korea, both SM and HYBE combined, it’s very difficult for us to monopolize the market.”
Bang then addressed how his acquisition of SM is considered a “hostile takeover.” The chair stressed, “We took over their stake with the consent of the major shareholder through due process. I think it’s propagandistic to call it a hostile deal. Rather, I think it is a serious problem that management wants to run a distributed company as they wish without a major shareholder.”
He even added, “I have long been sad that a good company like SM does not have a good governance structure. We have almost solved the governance problem through the stake acquisition this time.”
Source (1)
