Reports revealed SM Entertainment paid Lee Soo Man’s LIKE Holdings 130.8 billion KRW in the last decade, which is almost 35% of the SME’s operating income.
On February 18, the corporate data analysis research institute Index of Leaders SM Entertainment revealed the cumulative operating expenses for LIKE Holdings from 2013 to the third quarter of 2022 amounted to 130.8 billion KRW (about 100 million USD).
LIKE Holdings is Lee Soo Man’s private company that provides “music consultation and production services” to SM Entertainment.
The Leaders Index says, “SM Entertainment’s three-year average operating profit rate is 5.9%, which is lower than HYBE (16.7%), YG Entertainment (7.7%), and JYP Entertainment (29.5%). If not for those costs paid by LIKE Holding, operating profit can increase by more than 35%.”
Previously, ‘Dispatch’ alleged that Lee Soo Man has earned over 744.3 billion KRW (~$570 million USD) in the past 23 years since SM Entertainment first made their public offering. But in 2021, SM Entertainment recorded an annual operating income of 74 billion KRW, although sales increased to 417 billion KRW. Lee Soo Man was paid 24 billion KRW in production fees alone that year.
