South Korean music company SM Entertainment has published its latest financial results. They’re the first since it fended off an attempt by rival HYBE to buy a significant stake in the company.
SM’s revenues grew by 20.3% year-on-year to KRW 203.9bn (around $152.5m) in the first quarter of 2023.
The company’s revenues from album sales and digital music actually fell by 6.1% compared to Q1 last year, but it saw a sharp bounceback from Covid-19 lockdowns in its concerts business, with revenues growing from KRW 0.7bn in Q1 2022 to KRW 19.2bn a year later.
With HYBE having abandoned its efforts to take control at SM Entertainment, the latter now has Korean technology firm Kakao as its largest shareholder, after that company increased its stake in SM to 39.9% in late March.
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