As SM Entertainment approaches its 25th year in 2020, a significant decision has been made. On March 10, the company's board of directors held a meeting and revealed that Nam Sooyoung and Kim Youngmin would be stepping down from their current roles as co-CEOs. Although the two are relieved from their services as chief executives, they will still be part of SME and performing other duties in the company. This is in line with SM Entertainment's belief and developing commitments in transforming as a global presence with innovative music production as well as consolidating its management.
The appointment of new chief executives was given to Lee Sungsoo and Tak Youngjun. Mr. Lee has been under SM's wings for approximately 15 years and is responsible for producing music for the company since 2015. Lee Sungsoo is known as the one who organized and led the development and globalization of SM Entertainment's music and content production systems. He was the head of the music production department before his promotion to CEO.
Meanwhile, Tak Youngjun was formerly the label's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) before his promotion. It was discussed that he would be acting as Lee Sungsoo's co-director. Similarly, Mr. Tak has been with SM Entertainment for a while, even longer than Lee Sungsoo, beginning his journey at the company in 2001. He was the head of managing SM artists, which is a whole division by itself, as well as overseeing the marketing and management operations of all the individual and group artists. This means that he was in charge of forming different lineups for each SME group and developing their assets to help them grow into the global celebrities that they are today.
In September of last year, former co-CEO Kim Youngmin disclosed a few of the label's plans for the future in an interview with Hankyung Finance. It was confirmed that they were receiving pressure from shareholders like Korea Investment Management and Mirae Asset Global Investment upon the appeal of making changes to the company's shareholder return policies and business models. The request was made by KB Asset Management, a significant shareholder of SM Entertainment. Mr. Kim also stated in an interview that the company would not be merging with Like Planning, which belongs to chairman Lee Sooman. Mr. Lee was SM's original CEO who resigned from the board of directors in 2010 and became part of the label's management and artist development team.
Kim Youngmin previously stated that SM Entertainment was more focused on projects under his and Nam Sooyung's administration. Their artists sold 1.4 million albums in the first half of 2019, which was surpassed by the sales made from July to August alone. Simultaneous comeback promotions of EXO, NCT, and Red Velvet's full albums in the latter half of 2019 produced the desired sales growth that the company wanted. Lastly, it is said that SM Entertainment has been preparing the debut of a new boy group and girl group this 2020 as well.
