SM Grants 50 Shares of Stock to Each Employee to Encourage Company Growth

On August 9th, SM Entertainment declared that they would distribute 50 shares of the company stock to every employee.

SM announced that, in recognition of the hard work and dedication of their employees towards the successful implementation of their core strategy, SM 3.0, they will be granting 50 shares of company stock to most employees. This stock grant will serve as motivation for future growth and excludes only executives.

The allotment of shares will amount to approximately 28,000, which is equivalent to 2 billion won.

A stock grant differs from stock options in that it involves gifting company shares to employees at no cost. This enables employees to directly profit from any rise in the company’s stock value. This approach is anticipated to promote company expansion and foster long-term employee commitment.

This is the first instance in SM’s history where the company has awarded company shares through a stock grant solely to their employees, with the exception of executives.

Additionally, in order to increase shareholder value, SM has announced its intention to cancel 1% of its shares, which is equivalent to 235,895 shares (approximately 20.73 billion won). This decision follows the previous cancellation of 241,379 shares in February and serves as an additional measure to benefit our shareholders after a six-month period. The remaining 460,000 shares will either be allocated towards future growth investments or reviewed for potential cancellation.