HYBE 30-Day Regular Shareholders' Meeting
Park Ji-won, CEO of HYBE, stated at the shareholders' meeting on the 30th, "We believe the investment in SM Entertainment is not currently at a loss," adding, "The break-even point is around 92,000 to 93,000 KRW per share." This was a rebuttal to claims that the valuation loss amounts to several hundred billion won.
HYBE recently withdrew from acquiring SM and participated in Kakao Entertainment's tender offer. Out of the 3,757,237 shares held, 1,658,426 shares were sold at 150,000 KRW per share. Considering that the shares were purchased from former SM executive Lee Soo-man at 120,000 KRW per share, HYBE gained a capital gain of 49.7 billion KRW.
However, concerns arose that a valuation loss of several hundred billion won might occur when including the 2,098,811 shares not sold through the tender offer. This is because the stock price, which once exceeded 160,000 KRW during the SM acquisition battle, sharply dropped below 100,000 KRW. SM's closing price on the 30th was 94,100 KRW. CEO Park said, "We will do our best to enhance HYBE's shareholder value and will soon announce a business cooperation plan with Kakao." He reiterated HYBE's previous statement at the time of withdrawal that they would cooperate with Kakao in the platform sector in the future.
Meanwhile, SM will hold a shareholders' meeting on the 31st. The agenda to appoint three inside directors and five outside directors recommended by the current management is expected to pass. It is also reported that former executive Lee Soo-man, who competed with HYBE in the acquisition battle against the current management, will attend the meeting.
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