SM Entertainment Names Tak Young-jun Co-CEO

SM Entertainment, home to such K-pop stars as aespa and RIIZE, promoted Tak Young-jun to co-CEO alongside existing CEO Jang Cheol-hyuk, the company announced Wednesday (March 27). Tak was also named executive director of the company’s board. 

Tak, who joined SM Entertainment in 2005, has served as COO since May 2023. Prior to that, he was the head of SM Entertainment’s singer management division from 2015 to 2020. He served as co-CEO and chief marketing officer from 2020 to 2021 and co-CEO and chief operating officer from 2021 to 2023. 

The decision to raise Tak to co-CEO is SM Entertainment’s latest move to restructure its corporate governance following a shake-up in 2023 during which Kakao Corp. and Kakao Entertainment took a 40% stake in the company. Following SM Entertainment’s ouster of founder Soo-man Lee in 2022, the company named Jang as CEO in March 2023 and overhauled its board of directors. The active inside directors were asked to step down without taking consecutive terms to take responsibility for Lee’s mismanagement of the company.

“We will establish a sound [and] transparent governance structure and faithfully implement the SM 3.0 strategy so that SM can become a fan-and shareholder-centered global entertainment leader,” Jang said in a statement at the time of his appointment. 

Following its annual general meeting of shareholders on Wednesday, SM Entertainment also announced a 1,200-won ($0.89) per-share dividend totaling 28.1 billion won ($20.8 million). A dividend of the same amount was approved at the 2023 general meeting. 

SM Entertainment had revenue of 961 billion won ($736 million) in 2023, a 13% increase from 2022, while net income rose 20.4% to 98.8 billion won ($75.6 million). Following the investment by Kakao Corp. and Kakao Entertainment, SM Entertainment formed a North American joint venture, Kakao Entertainment America, with Kakao Entertainment in August 2023 to speed its expansion in North America.