K-pop popularity lifts entertainment shares

With entertainment companies’ shares rising on the popularity of K-pop, the value of securities held by entertainers is soaring to new highs, data showed Wednesday.

According to Chaebul.com, the value of SM Entertainment shares held by its chairman Lee Soo-man came in at 165.7 billion won ($144.6 million) at Tuesday’s close, setting a new record in terms of securities assets held by entertainers.

Lee owns 24.43 percent of SM Entertainment, which manages a number of big names including Girls’ Generation and Super Junior. SM Entertainment shares closed at the record high of 41,000 won on Tuesday, which is about 2.5 times higher than at the beginning of the year.

Lee was followed by YG Entertainment chief executive Yang Hyun-seok, whose stake in the company was valued at 83.88 billion won.

While the company is not yet publicly traded, Yang’s assets are expected to reach the 100 billion won mark if the value of the company’s shares rises past the current 47,000 won after it is listed next month. Yang holds 47.73 percent of the company.

The third place was taken by actor Bae Yong-joon, whose stakes in Keyeast Co. is valued at 12.13 billion won, followed by singer-producer Park Jin-young with 6.62 billion won stakes in JYP Entertainment.

Singer BoA ranked fifth with her 100,000 shares of SM Entertainment being worth 4.1 billion won, and comedian-turned-businessman Oh Seung-hoon followed with 3.16 billion won for his share of Enter-Tech Co.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)