85% of SM Employees Vote Anonymously Against HYBE+Lee Soo-man System

Voting Conducted Among 200 Employees
Current Management + Kakao Preferred More

HYBE has acquired the shares of former SM Entertainment producer Lee Soo-man, but it is reported that there is significant negative sentiment within SM Entertainment regarding this acquisition.

On the 14th, the SM lounge on the anonymous workplace community platform 'Blind' conducted a poll asking SM internal employees about their thoughts on HYBE's acquisition of SM.

The question was to choose between 'Current SM management (Lee Sung-soo and Tak Young-joon) and Kakao' VS 'HYBE and Lee Soo-man.' A total of 222 people participated in the poll by the afternoon of the 13th.

As a result, 'Co-CEOs Lee Sung-soo and Tak Young-joon and Kakao' received 190 votes, gaining over 85% support. On the other hand, 'HYBE and Lee Soo-man' received 33 votes, accounting for about 15% preference. It appears that SM Entertainment employees prefer the current management and Kakao, and there is likely to be strong opposition if HYBE acquires SM.

A netizen who identified themselves as an SM employee expressed that their pride has been shattered due to this situation. They said, "After the COVID-19 pandemic ended, our performance was clearly improving, and I was working with the mindset of 'let's be number one again.' But even that feeling has been completely taken away. It feels like the tradition and history we had have been denied."

Inside SM Entertainment, the current management and Kakao are preferred.
[Photo by Blind app capture]

Another employee pointed out the current situation, saying, "I'm at the point where I hate the name SM." Meanwhile, criticism toward former producer Lee Soo-man continued.

Employee A stated, "I feel a great sense of betrayal toward Lee Soo-man. This situation happened because of his selfishness," adding, "I used to have pride in SM, but it feels like it collapsed in an instant."

Earlier, on the morning of the 10th, HYBE announced that it would acquire 14.8% of shares held by Lee Soo-man, the major shareholder and former general director of SM Entertainment, for 422.8 billion KRW. In response, SM co-CEOs Lee Sung-soo and Tak Young-joon expressed their opposition to what they called a hostile M&A.