Acquires 21% Stake in Antenna
To Strengthen Responsible Management
CEO and composer Yoo Hee-yeol of Antenna
Yu Hee-yeol, CEO and composer of entertainment company Antenna, is returning as the second-largest shareholder by purchasing shares of the company. He expressed his ambition to focus more on management.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 9th, Yu Hee-yeol bought 21.37% (2,786 shares) of Antenna's shares from Kakao Entertainment on the 2nd for 3,199,721,000 KRW (114,850 KRW per share), becoming the second-largest shareholder.
Originally, Kakao Entertainment, which held 100% of Antenna's shares, saw its stake decrease to 57.93%. The remaining 20.7% of shares are owned by a third party, not CEO Yu.
In May 2021, Kakao Entertainment acquired 100% of the shares, including the 19% stake previously held by Yu Hee-yeol, for over 10 billion KRW. Yu Hee-yeol is expected to strengthen responsible management as he returns as the second-largest shareholder after two years.
Antenna started as a collective of musicians mainly consisting of singer-songwriters such as Lucid Fall, Jung Jae-hyung, Peppertones, Kwon Jin-ah, and Sam Kim, besides Yu Hee-yeol. Since 2021, the lineup has expanded its spectrum by recruiting prominent figures like Yoo Jae-suk, guitarist Lee Sang-soon, and singer Lee Hyori.
It is known that Yu Hee-yeol purchased Antenna's shares to strengthen responsible management, given the recruitment of leading figures in the field.
In July last year, Yu Hee-yeol halted his activities after being embroiled in allegations of plagiarizing a song by the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. At that time, he stepped down from KBS2's 'Yu Hee-yeol's Sketchbook,' which he had hosted for 13 years.
Regarding the plagiarism allegations, he apologized, saying, "After seeing numerous situations that have arisen, I have reflected on myself from the beginning," but also expressed, "Many of the allegations may be individual views and interpretations, but for me, they are difficult to accept."
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