April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The stock wealth of the founders of Korea’s top two entertainment agencies -- SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment -- saw a significant fall after South Korea announced its decision on July 8 to deploy THAAD, an advanced anti-missile defense system.

China has been crying foul at the project, and to highlight its disapproval, has been placing restrictions on South Korean performers.

SM Entertainment head Lee Soo-man’s stock assets stood at 129.9 billion won (US$116.27 million) as of Aug.4, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. That was 31.6 billion lower compared to five days earlier on July 29, and about 50 billion won lower compared to June 1.
 

SM Entertainment head Lee Soo-man.

The stock assets of YG head Yang Hyun-seok also lost about 22.1 billion won to 119.2 billion won from 141.3 billion won over the past month. 

Yang cut some of the losses by selling 669,715 of YG Entertainment shares to Chinese firms including Tencent to rake in 29.5 billion won profit.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)