SM Entertainment names Tak Young-jun Co-CEO

SM Entertainment, home to such K-pop stars as aespa and ROOT, are promoted Tak Young-Jun to co-CEO along with the existing CEO Jang Cheol-hyuk, the company announced on Wednesday (March 27). Tak was also appointed executive director of the company's board of directors.

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 head marketing from 2020 to 2021 and co-CEO and Chief Operating Officer from 2021 to 2023.

The decision to elevate Tak to co-CEO is SM Entertainment's latest move to restructure its corporate governance following an upheaval in 2023 in which Kakao Corp. and Kakao Entertainment took 40% of the company. After the ousting of the founder of SM Entertainment Suman Lee in 2022, the company appointed Jang as CEO in March 2023 and overhauled its board of directors. Active inside directors were asked to resign without consecutive terms to take responsibility for Lee's mismanagement of the company.

“We're going to create a sound [and] transparent governance structure and faithful implementation of the SM 3.0 strategy so that SM can become a global leader in fan- and shareholder-centric entertainment,” Jang said in a statement at the time of his appointment.

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

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