30 Facts About Lee Soo-man

Lee Soo-man is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational South Korean entertainment company based in Seoul.

Lee Soo-man has been referred to as the "president of culture", as one of the pioneers of the Korean Wave.

Lee Soo-man was born in Jeonju, South Korea on 18 June 1952, and attended Seoul National University on and off between 1971 and 1979.

Lee Soo-man debuted as a member of the band April and May in 1972, but he later departed from it for health reasons.

Lee Soo-man gained spotlight for his "good boy" image, supported by the fact that he was one of the few people who were not involved in the weed scandal among Korean celebrities in 1975, and his high academic credentials in Seoul National University.

Lee Soo-man was known for his trio with singers Lee Moon-sae and Yoo Yeol called Masamtrio, named as such because of their appearances that resemble that of a long face of a horse.

Lee Soo-man went abroad to work on a master's degree at California State University, Northridge, where he witnessed the rise of "superstars of the MTV generation" such as Michael Jackson.

Lee Soo-man's approach was targeted at teenage audiences, and took a holistic view of the qualities needed to become a successful entertainer.

In February 2010, Lee Soo-man resigned from his position as a member of SM's board of directors, but maintained a role in the company's "management and artist development" divisions.

Lee Soo-man remained the biggest shareholder, controlling the company's management rights.

Lee Soo-man founded the music publishing company Culture Technology Group Asia in May 2015 and drone company LeePollux in February 2019.

On 23 January 2020, Lee Soo-man was listed by Billboard as one of the world's influential music industry leaders.

In October 2022, SM announced that they would terminate their production contract with Lee Soo-man's Like Planning by the end of the year.

On 3 February 2023, SM said that they would restructure the company without the help of Lee Soo-man, adopting a multi-production center system to replace his role as chief producer.

Lee Soo-man, objecting to this, filed an injunction against the issuance of new shares and convertible bonds, which was upheld by the court.

Lee Soo-man sold his stake in SM to Hybe Corporation, making them the biggest shareholder.

Lee Soo-man had been established using SM's assets but was owned solely by Lee, and was the foreign equivalent of Like Planning.

Lee Soo-man said that Lee wanted to force artists to publicly declare his importance to the company and attempted to insert environmental references into songs to promote his business interests.

Lee Soo-man released a statement saying he was "moving toward the future".

Lee Soo-man acquired part of the Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle company EHang.

Lee Soo-man is the paternal uncle of Sunny, one of the members of the popular SM group Girls' Generation.

Lee Soo-man directed the Asia performance of Global Citizen's charity concert, Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream.

In 2002, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea found evidence of Lee Soo-man earning tens of billions worth of illegal market profits in August 1999 by acquiring 1.1 billion worth of stocks when listing stocks of SM Entertainment at KOSDAQ by a paid-in capital increase.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea investigated Lee Soo-man regarding circumstantial evidence of lobbying to producers in broadcasting stations and keeping a tremendous amount of cash in his personal office and vaults.

Lee Soo-man tried to escape prosecution by staying overseas from June 2002, and was found in a golf course in Los Angeles on 2 August in the same year.

Lee Soo-man eventually came back to Korea to be investigated on 22 May 2003.

Lee Soo-man was released in a special exemption in 2007 commemorating the fourth year of Roh Moo-hyun's presidency.

In 2015, Lee Soo-man was alleged to have violated foreign exchange rules, having failed to report real estate purchased in Los Angeles, as mandated by the Foreign Exchange Law.

Lee Soo-man's company responded that it was a "mistake" made by their American subsidiary.

Lee Soo-man was mentioned 399 times across 280 documents, tying him to eight paper companies in Hong Kong, five of which used a nominee service to conceal the source of their funds.