SM, JYP, YG, HYBE: who founded them, who owns them now

Where the four founders came from

• Lee Soo-man (SM). He began as a performer in 1971, founded SM in 1995 and opened the first idol generation with H.O.T.; BoA, TVXQ, Girls' Generation, EXO and NCT followed.¹
• J.Y. Park (JYP). He debuted as a singer in 1994 with the album "Blue City," whose title track was an instant hit. In 1997 he set up Tae-Hong Planning, later renamed JYP Entertainment; his first big success as a producer was Rain in 2002.⁷
• Yang Hyun-suk (YG). A former member of Seo Taiji and Boys, he founded YG in 1996; it began as a hip-hop label and grew into a major K-pop agency.¹³
• Bang Si-hyuk (HYBE). An aesthetics graduate of Seoul National University, he joined JYP in 1997 and wrote for g.o.d and Rain. After leaving JYP he launched Big Hit Entertainment in 2005; BTS debuted in 2013.¹⁷

Does J.Y. Park still own JYP?

By shareholding, Park is the largest shareholder, not a majority owner. In January 2024 he bought 60,200 shares for about 5 billion won, lifting his stake from 15.22% to 15.37%, and in July 2026 the Korea Economic Daily still described him as largest shareholder and CCO. On the management side, he left JYP's board in March 2026 after nearly 15 years; the company said he would focus on his own creative work, mentoring younger artists and outside roles for the K-pop industry, and he co-chairs the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange. As of March 2026 his shares were worth about 362.7 billion won, second only to Bang Si-hyuk on a list of the richest K-culture shareholders.

By era, JYP's flagship acts after Rain were Wonder Girls, 2PM, miss A and GOT7; TWICE, which debuted in October 2015 through the survival show "Sixteen," lifted the company's standing, followed by ITZY and Stray Kids.

SM after Kakao — and where Lee Soo-man and BoA went

In 2023 Lee Soo-man sold a 14.8% stake to HYBE, but Kakao won the takeover battle. HYBE later bought Lee's remaining 3.64% (completed March 2024), leaving Lee with no SM shares. In May 2025 HYBE sold its last 9.66% of SM to Tencent Music; on that deal Kakao and Kakao Entertainment together held 41.5% as largest shareholders and Tencent Music became No. 2. SM's current flagships are NCT and aespa. After his three-year non-compete with HYBE expired in February 2026, Lee debuted two groups in Korea at once in October 2026 through his Singapore-based A2O Entertainment.

The "BoA wiki" searches overlap with SM's story. BoA debuted at SM in 2000 at 13 and, with her first Japanese studio album "Listen to My Heart," became the first Korean musician to top the Oricon chart. Her contract with SM ended on Dec. 31, 2025 after 25 years, and she did not renew.

HYBE and Bang Si-hyuk: multi-label structure and shareholding

Big Hit acquired Source Music in 2019 and Pledis and KOZ Entertainment in 2020; in 2021 the company renamed itself HYBE and Bang stepped down as CEO to become chairman. HYBE runs a multi-label system in which labels handle production while the parent handles accounting and facilities: Big Hit (BTS, TOMORROW X TOGETHER), Pledis (SEVENTEEN), Belift Lab (ENHYPEN, ILLIT), Source Music (LE SSERAFIM), ADOR (NewJeans) and KOZ (BOYNEXTDOOR), as of April 2024. Bang holds 31.57% and Netmarble 9.44% (end-2024).

In April 2024 a dispute broke out between HYBE and ADOR's leadership (see the Hallyu Wiki issue page for its course).

YG and Yang Hyun-suk

YG brought hip-hop into the mainstream with Jinusean and 1TYM, and went abroad with BIGBANG in the late 2000s. 2NE1, WINNER, iKON and AKMU carried the 2010s, BLACKPINK became the flagship from 2016, and TREASURE and BABYMONSTER now represent the next generation. In January 2024 Yang bought 461,940 shares for about 20 billion won, raising his stake to 19.3%, and in March 2026, as executive producer, he announced the company's 2026 plans, including a BIGBANG concert reunion and new debuts.

Do they manage actors? JYP and YG actors

• JYP. In 2019 it announced that from Sept. 1 its actor division would be co-managed with npio Entertainment, a new actor agency. Six actors — Yoon Park, Shin Eun-soo, Kang Hoon, Shin Ye-eun, Kim Dong-hee and Lee Chan-sun — moved to joint management with npio, while the others looked for new agencies. The sources opened here do not confirm the division's status since then.¹²
• YG. In January 2025 it announced it would end actor management "to focus on our primary business of music." It had been scaling the division back since 2024, and actors leave in phases as their contracts expire.¹⁵

How to read this page

Stakes change with every filing, and the figures in the table have different as-of dates, so do not read them as a same-day comparison. "Largest shareholder" does not mean majority owner. Flagship acts are names the sources cite; names with a Hallyu Wiki article link to it.

For ongoing legal matters this page records only official statements and reported procedural steps, and does not treat unresolved allegations as fact.