#icymi
FEBRUARY:

1- Our biggest story in February was the acquisition dispute between SM Entertainment & Kakao against the formers founder and former Chairman Lee Soo-man. On the 7th of February, SM Entertainment and Kakao Corp. officially announced that they had signed a business agreement together. This business agreement would give the latter exclusive access to the distribution of SM artists' music, albums and related content, as well as open talks for a future co-produced group in the future. In addition to this agreement, Kakao had also — at the time — become SM Entertainment's largest shareholder after the purchase of 9.05% of the company's shares. Following this announcement, Lee Soo-man, who was the largest individual shareholder of SM Entertainment — at the time — announced that he would officially begin legal proceedings against SM Entertainment after the company had failed to consult him before making this decision. Following this, Lee Soo-man would approach HYBE in order to circumvent the acquisition of SM Entertainment by Kakao Corp. This was accomplished by allowing HYBE to acquire his 14.8% stake to officially become the largest shareholder of the company. This came shortly after HYBE America purchased the U.S. hip-hop label, Quality Control. In an official press release, HYBE shared that they are "aware of the concerns that fans, artists, employees, and shareholders of SM have, due to rumours and speculations around the company. HYBE fully respects the direction laid out in SM's 3.0 growth strategy, as well as the value and vision SM's employees and artists have created." Unfortunately for Lee Soo-man, Kakao's acquisition of SM proved to be a success, as it was announced in March that their purchase offer had been accepted. Along with Kakao's current stake of 4.9% in SM Entertainment, they were also required to purchase 35% more via their tender offer and were expected to take over HYBE's 14.8% stake in the company as well. As of the time of writing, HYBE still holds onto an 8.81% stake in SM Entertainment, while Kakao is the company's major shareholder with a 39.87% stake across their two companies (Kakao Corp. & Kakao Entertainment).

2- SM Entertainment released its 3.0 growth strategy in the final weeks of February. In this strategy, they declared the four key strategies that they would be implementing through SM 3.0: an IP (Intellectual Property) strategy, a multi-production centre/label system-based system, a business strategy, and a global expansion and investment strategy. Through SM 3.0, SM Entertainment officially announced that various artists would be returning with group, unit, or solo activities throughout the year. They also announced that they would be working towards protecting their artists from online harassment and that NCT's infinite expansion would finally come to an end. The group would officially become a fixed unit following the debut of NCT NEW TEAM (NCT Tokyo) in 2023. The final seven group members would be determined in September through the pre-debut survival show, NCT UNIVERSE: LASTART. Following the conclusion of the program, the debut line-up was confirmed to consist of Sion, Riku, Yushi, Jungmin, Daeyoung, Ryo & Sakuya. It was later announced, however, that Jungmin had officially left the group and returned to his status as a trainee due to health concerns.