SM Entertainment

SM Entertainment is a record label and talent agency in South Korea. It is one of the main entertainment businesses in Korea. It was founded by Lee Su-man, a former singer. It was originally focused solely on entertainment management. Since then, however, they have expanded their business interests to establishing subsidiary companies and incorporating affiliates. They have foreign subsidiaries, such as SM Japan, Asia, and USA.
Debut of stars
Known for their dedication to quality of talent, SM has produced many hit groups and solo artists since 1996. The first debut under the label was the boy group H.O.T. in 1996, followed by girl group S.E.S. in 1997. Being an influential contributor to the "First generation of K-pop", SM continued to produce hit artists such as Shinhwa in 1998, Fly to the Sky in 1999, soloist Boa in 2000 andTVXQ in 2004. A rising popularity of K-pop in the West saw further debuts become vastly successful like Super Junior in 2005, Girls' Generation in 2007, Shinee in 2008, f(x) in 2009 and EXO in 2012. The newest groups from SM are Red Velvet - debuted in 2014, JADE in January 2016, NCT in April 2016, WayV - a China based subunit of NCT in 2018, and AESPA in 2020.
Artists
Recording artists
Soloists
BoA
Kangta
J-Min
Dana
Sunday
Henry
Taemin
Minho
Key
Zhou Mi
Kyuhyun
Taeyeon
Ryeowook
Yesung
Luna
Lay
Hyoyeon
Chen
Baekhyun
Kai
Suho
Xiumin
D.O.
Wendy
Joy
Elle
KD
Rosalyn
Ty
MeiLi
Groups
H.O.T
S.E.S
TVXQ
TRAX
CSJH The Grace
Super Junior
Girls' Generation
Shinee
f(x)
EXO
Red Velvet
JADE
NCT
WayV
aespa
Sub-units
Super Junior-K.R.Y.
Super Junior-T
Super Junior-M
Super Junior-Happy
Super Junior-D&E
Girls' Generation-TTS
Girls' Generation-Oh!GG
EXO-M
EXO-K
NCT U
NCT 127
NCT DREAM
Project groups
S.M. The Ballad
M&D
Younique Unit (Inactive)
S.M. The Performance
Toheart (Inactive)
Super M
Girls On Top
Actors/Actresses
Elle Kim aka Kim/Shim MiRa JADE
KD JADE
MeiLi JADE
Ty JADE
Do Kyungsoo EXO
Lay EXO
Suho EXO
Sehun EXO
Baekhyun EXO
Chen EXO
Xiumin EXO
Chanyeol EXO
Kai EXO
Choi Jong-yoon
Kim Ian
Kim Min-jong
Lee Jae-ryong
Lee Yeon-hee
Yoo Ho-jeong
Lina
Im Yoon-ah
Kwon Yuri
Sulli
Entertainers
Kim Kyung-sik
Lee Dong-woo
Studio artists
Pianists
Song Kwang-sik
Former artists
Former recording artists
Hyun Jin-young (1990-1993)
Han Dong-joon (1991-1992)
Kim Kwang-jin (1991-1992)
Major (Seo Yeon-soo and Im Bum-jun, 1994)
J&J (Jay Kim and Jay Kang, 1994)
H.O.T. (1996-2001)
Moon Hee-joon (1996-2005)
Lee Jae-won (1996-2001)
Tony An (1996-2001)
Jang Woo-hyuk (1996-2001)
Shinhwa (1998-2003)
Fly to the Sky (1999-2004)
Jang Na-ra (2001-2008)
M.I.L.K (2001-2003)
Seo Hyun-jin (2001-2007)
Sugar (2001-2006)
Black Beat (2002-2007)
Shinvi (2002-2003)
Isak 'N' Jiyeon (2002-2004)
Kim Isak (2002-2012)
TVXQ
Kim Jae-joong (2003-2009)
Park Yoochun (2003-2009)
Kim Junsu (2003-2009)
TRAX
Kang Jung-woo (2004-2006)
No Min-woo (2004-2009)
CSJH The Grace
Stephanie (2005-2016)
Super Junior
Han Geng (2005-2009)
Kim Kibum (2004-2015)
Girls' Generation
Jessica (2007-2015)
Tiffany (2007-2017)
Sooyoung (2007-2017)
Seohyun (2007-2017)
Chu Ga-yeoul (2002-2012)
EXO
Kris (2012-2014)
Luhan (2012-2014)
Tao (2012-2015)
Zhang Liyin (2006-2017)
Jonghyun (2008-2017)
*f(x)
*AMBER LIU (2009-2019)
*VICTORIA SONG (2009-2019)
**PARK LUNA (2009-2019)
Former actors/actresses
Yoon Park (2009-2013)
Go Ara (2003-2016)
Stocks
SM Entertainment was established in 1995 with initial capital of 50 million won. In 2000, their shares were registered on the KOSDAQ market. Moreover, SM formed a music investment fund with about 10 billion won in 2001. This was the first of its kind in Korea. SM Entertainment's revenues grew 53% in 2011 compared to the year before. The company recorded 1686 billion won. The largest shareholder is Lee Su-man, who owns 21.50% of SM The affiliates of SM Entertainment includes SM Culture and Contents, SM Entertainment Japan Inc., Starlight, Galgali Family Entertainment, Dream Maker Entertainment Limited, SM Amusement, SM F&B Development, M Studio City, SM Brandmarketing, SM Entertainment USA Inc., and SM Krage.
References
South Korean record labels
1995 establishments in Asia
South Korean entertainment companies