Learn More About SM Founder’s Net Worth, Lee Soo-man
As you know that SM Entertainment is the part of the top four biggest entertainment company in South Korea, along with YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and Big Hit Entertainment. Since two decades ago, SM Entertainment has a big influence in spreading Korean Wave worldwide, with their famous boy band and girl band such as TVXQ, Girl’s Generation, EXO, Super Junior, Red Velvet, NCT, BoA, etc.
Behind the successful of this rich company, there’s a man who build all of these since zero, he is Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment. Lee Soo-man stated this business as the first from YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and of course the youngest and the rich Big Hit Entertainment. As a founder of the big SM Entertainment, are you curious about how much Lee Soo-man himself has? This time, Byeol Korea will tell you from Lee Soo-man’s in personal, business, and scandals, so stay tuned!
Lee Soo-man’s Profile and Facts
Name / Hangul : Lee Soo-man / 이수만
Date of Birth : June 18, 1952
Place of Birth : Seoul, South Korea
Nationality : South Korean
Education : Master Degree in Computer Engineering
Alma mater : California State University, Northridge – Seoul National University
Occupation : Record producer, record executive, businessman
Spouse : (the late) Kim Eun-jin
Facts About Lee Soo-man
- Lee Soo-man stared his career as a cafe singer in 1971, and debuted in 1972 but didn’t gain a huge amount of popularity at the time
- He formed the first heavy metal band in the Korean music industry called ‘Lee Soo-man and 365 days’ but his music got disturbed by censoring policy in Asia, so he quit the band
- Lee Soo-man’s original dream is becoming a top engineer, so he took the master degree in the field of robotics at California State University
- Lee Soo-man returning to Korea and pursue his career in entertainment industry once again, and become the successful singer, TV show host, radio host, a part-time DJ and managing a restaurant
- Lee Soo-man married to Kim Eun-jin in 1984 when they meet in America, but she died from small intenstine cancer on September 30, 2014
- He loves his wife so much, as he always stay beside his wife when she fight her cancer. When her wife was diagnosed with sun light allergy, he bought a new house in LA that suitable for his wife’s condition
- He is the paternal uncle of Sunny from Girl’s Generation, which girl group is under his company, SM Entertainment
Founding SM Entertainment
After his band ‘Lee Soo-man and 365 days’ was disbanded, he saw no future in Korean Entertainment. He then choose to pursue his first dream in United States as computer engineer. At the States, he saw the big revolution in US entertainment by the rise of Michael Jackson, superstars of MTV generation. He felt that it was a huge potential music and decided to replicate US entertainment in South Korea.
After returning from United States, he first come back to his personal career in entertainment industry as a singer, TV show host, radio host, part-time DJ and managing a restaurant. In 1989, he started SM Entertainment, which name is come from his name Soo Man, with 200.000.000 Won for initial capital. After that, he started to produced many groups such as the dance group ‘hyon-jinyon’, the folk group ‘han Dongjun’, and R&B singer ‘Liu in Jon’.
On February 14, 1995, SM Entertainment became a publicly traded company. In 1996 SM Entertainment got it’s first step of fame by produced H.O.T, followed by S.E.S, Shinhwa, Fly to The Sky, BoA, TVXQ, and so on, until it became the largest entertainment company in South Korea.
Resigned From SM Entertainment
Reported from Edaily SPN, Lee Soo-man, the founder and CEO of SM Entertainment will resign from the company he built, SM Entertainment. SM representatives said that Lee Soo-man resigned so he will be able to focus on investment and business development overseas, although there’s seems no correlation between the two events. However, Lee Soo-man still become the major stakeholder by acquiring 28.3% of SM Entertainment’s shares. He will be no longer engaged in business activities.
Following Lee Soo-man’s departure, Avex Entertainment sold all 15.4% of their shares with Neowizbugs acquiring the majority of it. It seems that the relationship between SM Entertainment and Avex will be over. Avex Entertainment hold the important role in assist the promotion of SM Entertainment artists within the Japanese market, especially TVXQ. It still can’t be decided whether it’s a bad news or a good news.
Lee Soo-man’s Net Worth as SM’s Stakeholder
As the major stakeholder, it is obvious that Lee Soo-man will get the biggest portion of them all. According to a Korean website chaebul.com on September 24, Lee Soo-man and Park Jin-young are the only Korean celebrities with over 200 billion worth of stock holdings. Lee Soo-man too the first place first which stocks currently estimated to be worth 211.2 billion won (approximately $188.7 million), followed by Park Jin-young, CEO and founder of JYP Entertainment, by 204.7 billlion won (approximately $183.4 million).
For his net worth (cash, real estate, and anything else value fo assests) for now is still under review. But all we could conclude is that Lee Soo-man is the richest person in South Korea entertainment industry.
