If SM Entertainment & Kakao Join Forces — What Would It Bring?

Whether villain or hero, the characters in K-drama never give up. And that’s the main life lesson for us in this ongoing real-life battle for control over K-pop’s founding agency SM Entertainment.

At the start of the year, it looked like SM management successfully teamed with Korean tech giant Kakao to launch a coup against SM Entertainment’s founder Lee Soo-man. Then, through grit and maneuvering, Lee went to his rival, Hybe Entertainment, to coordinate takeover to retaliate against his own SM family!

Nevertheless, SM management continues to outline their independent future with Kakao. So what would a Kakao + SM Entertainment joint venture look like? And is this ambitious plan enough to win over shareholders in the upcoming shareholder meeting? At the end of the day, is Kakao really bringing enough to the table? Or would they take over SM Entertainment piece by piece? Watch until the end to find out some potential strategies SM and Kakao could implement to change the gameboard back to their favor. In K-drama, it ain’t over ’til it’s over!

Originally published at https://www.seoulite.tv on February 25, 2023.