K-Pop
Page: 32
In a stunning wrinkle in the fevered battle between Kakao Corp. and HYBE for a controlling stake in K-pop company SM Entertainment, Kakao’s chief investment officer was indicted Monday (Nov. 13) for allegedly manipulating the stock price to ward off HYBE’s rival bid.
Bae Jae-hyun, Kakao’s chief investment officer, will face a trial for violating South Korea’s Capital Markets Act, according to reports. He allegedly inflated the price of SM Entertainment shares by purchasing 240 billion won ($181.3 million) of shares while HYBE, home of K-pop group BTS, was attempting to buy a large stake in the company. Prosecutors also charged Kakao using a provision in the law that allows both a company and its employees to be punished.
The scheme to manipulate SM Entertainment’s share price stemmed from a heated competition between Kakao and HYBE to become the largest shareholder in SM Entertainment — home to such K-pop acts as NCT Dream and Red Velvet — to help rebuild the company after it terminated a production contract with its founder, Lee Soo-man. In February, HYBE acquired a 14.8% stake in the K-pop giant from Lee and attempted to acquire an additional 25% stake through a tender offer at 120,000 won ($92.36) per share. HYBE’s bid was too low, however, and the tender offer gave HYBE less than 1% of outstanding shares.
Bae allegedly acquired SM Entertainment shares to drive up the price above HYBE’s tender offer price, thus thwarting its efforts to obtain a larger stake. On March 6, Kakeo and Kakao Entertainment followed with a tender offer of 150,000 won ($115.46) per share — 25% above HYBE’s tender offer price — and ended up acquiring an additional 25% stake, bringing its ownership of SM Entertainment to 40%. HYBE abandoned its bid to control SM Entertainment on March 13 and announced on March 28 that it would sell nearly half of its stake in SM Entertainment to Kakao for 248.8 billion won ($191.8 million).
Kakao is a South Korean tech conglomerate that owns the country’s dominant chap app, KakaoTalk, and a popular taxi-hailing app, Kakao Mobility, among other products. A subsidiary, Kakao Entertainment, owns Starship Entertainment, home to such K-pop groups as Monsta X, as well as South Korea streaming app Melon. In August, Kakao Entertainment and SM Entertainment revealed their plans to create a North American joint venture by the end of 2023.
The investigation into stock manipulation started soon after Kakao and Kakao Entertainment beat out HYBE for the SM Entertainment stake. South Korean officials raided the offices of Kakao and Kakao Entertainment on April 6 and SM Entertainment’s headquarters on April 18. Bae was arrested for suspected stock manipulation on Oct. 19 before being indicted on Monday. Other executives were suspected of working with Bae to inflate SM Entertainment’s share price, according to a Reuters article at the time of his arrest, but to date no one else has been charged.
K-pop giant JYP Entertainment has signed a multi-year global strategic pact with Live Nation to produce tours for all artists on JYP’s roster, it was announced Monday (Nov. 13). Under the deal, Live Nation will produce tours for established JYP artists including TWICE, Stray Kids, iTZY, Xdinary Heroes (XH) and NMIXX as well as emerging […]
The Golden Maknae of BTS just keeps on shining. On Thursday (Nov. 9), Jung Kook graced the TSX Entertainment stage in New York City for a surprise performance of several songs off his brand new debut solo album, Golden. The first permanent stage in Times Square, the TSX stage saw electrifying renditions of Golden singles “Seven” […]
BTS‘ Jung Kook took his solo act to the Today Show on Wednesday morning (Nov. 8), stopping traffic all around the plaza outside the show’s New York studios for a live performance of songs form his just-released debut solo album, Golden. The program’s hosts said JK drew one of the biggest crowds they’ve ever had, […]
ENHYPEN‘s album rollout for its forthcoming album, Orange Blood, continues. The K-pop stars added one more piece to the puzzle of its release on Sunday (Nov. 5), sharing the album’s tracklist on X (formerly known as Twitter). The set will contain a total of five original tracks — “Mortal,” “Sweet Venom,” “Still Monster,” “Far” and […]
Jung Kook‘s Golden tops this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Nov. 3) on Billboard, choosing the pop icon’s re-recorded album as their favorite new music release of the past week. Golden brought in 88% of the vote, beating out new music releases from Olivia Rodrigo, The Beatles and more. Explore See latest […]
The first new music Friday of November sees a K-pop star stepping firmly into the spotlight, one of the biggest rock bands of all time using tech to make something old new again, and a recent Billboard chart-topper lending her chops to a blockbuster movie series, with new releases from Jung Kook, The Beatles and […]
K-pop girl group STAYC takes us through a day in their lives in this special episode of Billboard News. Isa:Hey, Billboard! We are STAYC and this is a day in the life on the Teen Fresh world tour in Los Angeles. Seeun:This looks amazing! Let’s eat! Sieun:This is our concert. This is our first concert […]
ENHYPEN is making another big splash to extend their dominance beyond the K-pop, beauty and fashion scenes.
Following the news that the group was joining Cardi B, Offset, Lance Bass, Ashley Tisdale and more stars in the cast of Baby Shark’s Big Movie!, the septet teamed with Nickelodeon and The Pinkfong Company to launch a music video for a new single “Keep Swimmin’ Through” for the viral character’s first feature film.
In the visual aquatic extravaganza, ENHYPEN members Jungwon, Heeseung, Jake, Sunghoon, Jay, Sunoo and Ni-ki perform as both themselves and a boy band of beluga whales. The guys deliver inspiring, oceanic-themed lyrics (“So don’t give up when the tide turns against you, you know you got friends in the deep blue”) to the delight of Baby Shark and friends (with appearances by Mommy Shark, Daddy Shark and ENHYPEN superfan William).
After wrapping the U.S. leg of their Fate World Tour in October, ENHYPEN will return stateside to perform “Keep Swimmin’ Through” on Nickelodeon and Pinkfong’s Baby Shark float during the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 23. Nickelodeon described their display as a “25-foot-long Baby Shark balloon and an 18-foot-long float that showcases an underwater seascape featuring the lovable Shark family,” per a press release.
The new collaboration follows the previous Big Movie music video “It’s Stariana!” that introduced Tisdale’s singing starfish character Stariana. Actors like Aparna Nancherla, Ego Nwodim, and Chloe Fineman, plus Baby Shark series regulars like Kimiko Glenn, Luke Youngblood, Natasha Rothwell, Eric Edelstein, Debra Wilson and Patrick Warburton are also on hand for the flick.
ENHYPEN’s “Keep Swimmin’ Through” releases worldwide across streaming platforms tomorrow, Nov. 3. The song comes ahead of the group’s upcoming ORANGE BLOOD album, dropping on Nov. 17, which Jake recently told Billboard is “our best album to date.”
The video will appear across Nickelodeon platforms and stream on Paramount+ leading up to the winter premiere of Baby Shark’s Big Movie. Watch the exclusive premiere of “Keep Swimmin’ Through” below:
[embedded content]
Jung Kook’s solo career is breaking records. The BTS superstar’s “Seven” featuring Latto became the fastest song to reach 1 billion streams in Spotify history, the streaming platform announced on Monday (Oct. 30). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news It’s been 108 days since the song was first released, […]