Rumor I have been trying to breathe, but its looking more and more like the Death of SM (2 Viewers)

[RandAlThor]

I assumed Hybe sold the 15% shares as part of the deal between Hybe and Kakao which the use of the word "platform" makes me thing it's something between DearU and WeVerse which Hybe has shown to care about growing WeVerse with what they pulled with V Live. As for Kakao having full control of a company it's not entirely unprecedented since they own about 60% of Starship so they can vote anything through if they wanted to and well WJSN just re-signed apart from pretty much 2 members not counting the Chinese member situation.

I still think it's a concerning situation on what direction SM could go because Sooman was pretty involved that it could be a problem for someone to continue the style SM is known for which could prove a problem long term but that's an issue you couldn't get around with how things went down. There is also the possibility of Kakao or SM going heavy on the AI stuff for aespa since Kakao has access to more technology with that which I'm not sure anyone is really begging for that either.

There's really nothing to do but to just wait and see what actually happens now as Kakao did say SM would be autonomous but that they were going to work on voting a new CEO in a joint statement SM and Kakao put out the day Hybe backed out of the deal which idk if you saw my post about that.

I'd consider this as a transition period right now and for people leaving well do we know why they left? It could be for a significant reason or maybe they decided this is a good time to evaluate their lives and move onto something else which Min Heejin did even before all this mess so without something coming out to suggest there's trouble in paradise there's nothing to really grasp onto either way.

Overall be cautious going forward because it is Kakao and being better than Hybe does not make them an innocent company by far since that's not hard to achieve and ultimately see what moves that make and be aware that Kakao can be pressured into things like how they shut down that idol page talking bad about Ives competitors once fans caught on.

i must have missed your posts that day i even looked weird.. the first stuff i read seemed to say they would co own what they had and not keep upping the price. But that hybe would back down on the management changes ( which i though odd as that was his main stated reason to buy (to save them from bad management that he had watched.)

The problem is
1. the og kakao contract was garbage from day 1. the ceo's and the board knew it and passed it. You cannot create new shares out of thin air with out telling the shareholders particularly the largest shareholder. That is theft.

1.a) Chris's stated whole problem was with the term of LSM's deal yet he signs the rights away forever...... head slap.

2. thus the fix was in for them to vote for it. Also why the Lawyer walked.

3. LSM did not need to sell to stop the OG deal. the contract was null and void, any court was throwing it out.

4. Why Sell then? And to Hybe.

5. maybe LSM knew that this was a front for Kakao to buy the whole deal. because they also had to know the first deal was invalid.

6. Many say LSM was just trying to get paid. if so obv kakao was going to put out a tender offer after the deal got killed. wait sell then. prob an easy extra 100 million+. OFC those optics would be .. ahh awful.

7. He needed someone with the cash to go against Kakao. He didn't have it. 40% is the magic number in Korea i guess. for him to get there he needs 25% and change new shares. Man does not have that 5-600million lying around ppl keep talking about and lucky for him he didnt borrow it from SVB.

8. Hybe tried with a 120 offer which given sm was in the 80's in dec was prob fair... but they went too early. being first is not great since at the time it was already close to 120. if they wait until after the court date to closer to the drop dead date for the stock meeting. its gonna cost more but they would have got more than 1% in a month long offer, and they leave kakao no room to maneuver.

9. pretty much the only salvation now is for the (the KEC i guess to declare malfeasance) and Void the entire mess. That i think cant happen until like July.

10. ppl keep bringing up starship. i think the price for starship was 10 million dollars( i remember that because i thought to my self. self win the lottery you can buy one of these companies and save IZ*ONE.) The difference in scale is huge.

11. sm current management is bad. Kakao has massively overpaid for SM. They are going to want that money back fast. Especially if we head into a long global recession.

With out more info i am left with the feeling that SM , LSM and the fans all got played .
From Day 1 i was skeptical of 3.0 because nothing current management has show me indicates they are capable of even running what they have. let alone X more groups per year. Then that start up 5 team production deal ( that still had one team gate keeping aka what 'like planning' was alleged to be)

12. Clearly SM is over. It is very unlikely that we will see sm towns/ year end concerts with artists like we saw last year. No other company in Kpop kept the senior groups around, Working and involved. That had to be LSM.

I hope the deal's in place give the kids the songs and name maybe if lsm leaves or some other clause.

 

[Abeamus]

i must have missed your posts that day i even looked weird.. the first stuff i read seemed to say they would co own what they had and not keep upping the price. But that hybe would back down on the management changes ( which i though odd as that was his main stated reason to buy (to save them from bad management that he had watched.)

The problem is
1. the og kakao contract was garbage from day 1. the ceo's and the board knew it and passed it. You cannot create new shares out of thin air with out telling the shareholders particularly the largest shareholder. That is theft.

1.a) Chris's stated whole problem was with the term of LSM's deal yet he signs the rights away forever...... head slap.

2. thus the fix was in for them to vote for it. Also why the Lawyer walked.

3. LSM did not need to sell to stop the OG deal. the contract was null and void, any court was throwing it out.

4. Why Sell then? And to Hybe.

5. maybe LSM knew that this was a front for Kakao to buy the whole deal. because they also had to know the first deal was invalid.

6. Many say LSM was just trying to get paid. if so obv kakao was going to put out a tender offer after the deal got killed. wait sell then. prob an easy extra 100 million+. OFC those optics would be .. ahh awful.

7. He needed someone with the cash to go against Kakao. He didn't have it. 40% is the magic number in Korea i guess. for him to get there he needs 25% and change new shares. Man does not have that 5-600million lying around ppl keep talking about and lucky for him he didnt borrow it from SVB.

8. Hybe tried with a 120 offer which given sm was in the 80's in dec was prob fair... but they went too early. being first is not great since at the time it was already close to 120. if they wait until after the court date to closer to the drop dead date for the stock meeting. its gonna cost more but they would have got more than 1% in a month long offer, and they leave kakao no room to maneuver.

9. pretty much the only salvation now is for the (the KEC i guess to declare malfeasance) and Void the entire mess. That i think cant happen until like July.

10. ppl keep bringing up starship. i think the price for starship was 10 million dollars( i remember that because i thought to my self. self win the lottery you can buy one of these companies and save IZ*ONE.) The difference in scale is huge.

11. sm current management is bad. Kakao has massively overpaid for SM. They are going to want that money back fast. Especially if we head into a long global recession.

With out more info i am left with the feeling that SM , LSM and the fans all got played .
From Day 1 i was skeptical of 3.0 because nothing current management has show me indicates they are capable of even running what they have. let alone X more groups per year. Then that start up 5 team production deal ( that still had one team gate keeping aka what 'like planning' was alleged to be)

12. Clearly SM is over. It is very unlikely that we will see sm towns/ year end concerts with artists like we saw last year. No other company in Kpop kept the senior groups around, Working and involved. That had to be LSM.

I hope the deal's in place give the kids the songs and name maybe if lsm leaves or some other clause.

Hybe said from my understanding they were backing out of the deal and came to a different arrangement all together which I had heard a rumor that Kakao said they'd put down another 20 on whatever Hybe bid which might be why Hybe took a step back seeing the long term effects that could have.

Bang Sihyuk actually gave more insight on this recently saying Sooman approached Hybe asking what their vision was so it does seem to be a combination of who had the money and who he trusted with what he wanted which wasn't SM & Kakao.

I don't think Kakao can be stopped from purchasing SM unless they ban Kakao from being able to purchase SM at least for a while since I imagine if this deal does not stick they'll just do a deal that will stick with no opposition from Hybe to worry about.

Scale doesn't really stop it being a fair point in terms of them potentially getting rid of artists since they just had a prime opportunity to do that with WJSN however do I think there is some weirdness still? Yes like Kakao controls artists revenue which will be decided on the size of the artists and when talking about all pretty big artists like SM that's an odd thing to say. I think the concern regarding artists is probably more around Kakao working them into the ground and being shady when it comes to payment.

SM could definitely just crash and burn when they plan on trying such a big change but it's not like there was a good outcome since Kakao or Hybe messing with SM is not great and SM remaining autonomous as it is doesn't seem like a great idea either.

What really is there left to do but to just hope for the best and see how things turn out? I'm not loving the optics either but with the owner chosen there's nothing to be done until the wheels on SM 3.0 start turning and if they come off just as quick well just hope the artists can continue their work without a rebrand.

 

[OnlyCalB]

I'm just waiting to see what officially happens.

Hoping for the best for SM, well, it's artists. If by chance they do leave, I hope they can keep their brands but if not, I hope they continue still. Fans will stick by them regardless.

 

[RandAlThor]

I'm just waiting to see what officially happens.

Hoping for the best for SM, well, it's artists. If by chance they do leave, I hope they can keep their brands but if not, I hope they continue still. Fans will stick by them regardless.

i know my tone has been odd cuz i could not really be happy with either solution.
some how making sm more cooperate does not seem the right direction.

 

[ani07]

I didn't realize the lack of maturity 'round here but sheesh. SM group stans have no one to blame but LSM for this, saying anything that happens is Kakao's fault is laughable af.

I see we are on that same page yet again. I dont like those kind of threads and articles spreading fear. its not like we can change anything.

 

[OnlyCalB]

i know my tone has been odd cuz i could not really be happy with either solution.
some how making sm more cooperate does not seem the right direction.

True that. It's just big corps wanting some of the SM pie but without any concern about what it's actually going to do to the company.

Hopefully whoever "controls" SM doesn't run it into the ground and is actually smart enough to manage it correctly.