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Kakao responds to HYBE criticism of SM Entertainment partnership

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SM Entertainment, HYBE has criticised a recent partnership the K-pop agency has forged with South Korean tech giant Kakao.Earlier this month, Kakao shared that it had acquired a 9.05 per cent stake in SM, which would have made it the second-largest shareholder of the company after founder Lee Soo-man.

HYBE later announced that it had struck a deal to acquire a 14.8 per cent stake in SM from Lee, thus becoming its biggest shareholder.

It also offered to purchase another 25 per cent stake in the agency from minority investors.HYBE announced last Wednesday (February 22) in an open letter that it had completed the acquisition, which has been opposed by SM leadership and staff, and officially become the biggest shareholder in SM.

The day before, HYBE CEO Park Ji-won said the company was open to working with Kakao as it was “open to business proposals that benefit SM Entertainment”, though it had yet to hear details.On February 22, SM unveiled the details of the deal with Kakao it had originally struck earlier that month.

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