SM Entertainment is a record label and talent agency in South Korea. It is one of the main entertainment businesses in Korea. It was founded by Lee Su-man, a former singer. It was originally focused solely on entertainment management. Since then, however, they have expanded their business interests to establishing subsidiary companies and incorporating affiliates. They have foreign subsidiaries, such as SM Japan, Asia and USA.
Debut of stars
Known for their dedication to quality of talent, SM has produced many hit groups and solo artists since 1996. The first debut under the label was the boy group H.O.T. in 1996, followed by girl group S.E.S. in 1997. Being an influential contributor to the "First generation of K-pop", SM continued to produce hit artists such as Shinhwa in 1998, Fly to the Sky in 1999, soloist Boa in 2000 andTVXQ in 2004. A rising popularity of K-pop in the West saw further debuts become vastly successful like Super Junior in 2005, Girls' Generation in 2007, Shinee in 2008, f(x) in 2009 and EXO in 2012. The newest groups from SM are Red Velvet debuted in 2014, NCT in April 2016, WayV (a China based subunit of NCT) in 2018 and Aespa in 2020.
SM Entertainment was established in 1995 with initial capital of 50 million won. In 2000, their shares were registered on the KOSDAQ market. Moreover, SM formed a music investment fund with about 10 billion won in 2001. This was the first of its kind in Korea. SM Entertainment's revenues grew 53% in 2011 compared to the year before. The company recorded 1686 billion won. The largest shareholder is Lee Su-man, who owns 21.50% of SM The affiliates of SM Entertainment includes SM Culture and Contents, SM Entertainment Japan Inc., Starlight, Galgali Family Entertainment, Dream Maker Entertainment Limited, SM Amusement, SM F&B Development, M Studio City, SM Brandmarketing, SM Entertainment USA Inc., and SM Krage.
