Fall of Kpop's SM Entertainment: CJ ENM's interested in acquiring Lee Soo-man's stake

South Korean entertainment agency CJ ENM has confirmed its interest in acquiring iconic K-pop agency SM Entertainment on Thursday.

SM, a part of the Big 3 of Kpop, has been looking for buyers for several months now. Specifically to buy out founder Lee Sooman's shares of SM entertainment.

Reportedly, CJ ENM calculated the stake, nearly 19%, at somewhere around 4 trillion won or $33 million. CJ ENM is a conglomerate that owns major TV networks in South Korea including Mnet, tvN and OCN.

SM Entertainment said it was in talks with various companies for a partial stake sale. Kakao has also been mentioned as another candidate to take over SM Entertainment.

The stake sale also puts into question Lee Sooman's future in the SM entertainment. Lee founded SM in 1989 and has helped create internationally renowned groups like EXO, SuperM and has recently debuted a girlgroup incorporated with AI called Aespa.