Just as Cai Pingping's Roewe 550 was driving Duan Shanshan to her home, thousands of miles away in Seoul, the first board of directors of S.M. after the New Year was being held. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

When it comes to assessing the achievements and shortcomings of the past year, as well as determining the direction of the company in the new year, the agenda is inevitably a bit lengthy.

Lee so-man, the company's founder, current artist director, non-executive director, and known as the godfather of Korean music, did not attend the board as usual. At the age of nearly sixty, he has basically retreated into the background, no longer directly interfering with the daily affairs of the company, and is still accompanying his family on the other side of the ocean.

Otherwise, with his huge influence in the company, if he participates in the day-to-day management, if there is a difference of opinion with the current president and representative director Kim Young-min, it will be a huge and tricky problem between the two people.

Thanks to Lee so-man's stance of staying out of the matter, it is natural that the current president, Kim Young-min, will lead the council.

At the helm of Korea's largest entertainment economy company, he joined the company 12 years ago as the head of the overseas business group, was elected as the company's representative director six years ago, and was elected as the fourth president by the board of directors three years ago, and is only 41 years old this year.

Unlike the previous three presidents, President Kim did not own shares in the company, let alone sit on the board of directors, in other words, he got to this position entirely with his own business vision and skill.

Although there were dozens of people attending the board of directors as observers, apart from President Kim, there were only a few people who could have a certain right to speak: for example, Executive Director Lee Chung-in in charge of finance, Executive Director Han Shimin in charge of U.S. business, and Non-executive Director Nam So-young in charge of Japan business.

In addition, people such as the company's artist Kangta (An Qixuan), the first sister Boa (Bao'er), and the gold medal songwriter Kenzie (Kim Yeon-jeong), who mentioned earlier, all have the title of a director and are also sitting in this conference room at the moment, but at most they just bring a pair of ears in, and unless there are specific details that need to consult their opinions, they basically can't interject.

"We can't accept the ruling of the Seoul court! Since they have signed a contract, they do not honestly perform their duties, but instead file a lawsuit for termination of the contract under some unreasonable pretext, which is ridiculous! The company has spent so much effort to cultivate them, and in order to make them popular, they have poured a lot of money and all kinds of connections into it, and now they want to throw the company aside when they have become a little famous, and such an ungrateful behavior must not be tolerated and connived at! We must not compromise and must file an appeal!"

A shareholder representative is foaming at the mouth of the bill in response to a Seoul court ruling late last year in a contract dispute between former SuperJunior member Han Geng and S.M.

Thanks to the various small tactics of S.M., this lawsuit has dragged on for a year, but after all, it is impossible to put it on hold indefinitely. The Seoul court finally announced Han Geng's victory on December 21 last year.

Including Kim Young-min, the main members of the board of directors are smart people, and they have long seen that the company has no power to return to the sky in this contract dispute, and they are all inclined to the three policies of "calming people in lawsuits, learning lessons in artist management, and recovering the image in external publicity". However, for investors, that is, the shareholders of the company, there is absolutely no compromise on this kind of thing that violates their vital interests, otherwise one step back this time may be ten or a hundred steps back in the future.

It took a lot of lip service for Kim Young-min, Han Se-min, Nam So-young and others to reluctantly appease the shareholder who represented the board of directors.

"We have consulted many experts, including the company's legal counsel, and they all said that the company basically has no chance of turning around in this lawsuit, and advised us to accept the reality...... Therefore, we will try to contact Han Geng's side privately to seek a settlement plan without damaging the company's face. Kim Young-min explained helplessly.

"It doesn't matter if it's just one Han Geng, the question is what if other artists under the company also learn from him to make trouble?" asked the shareholder representative angrily, "Don't you have a more positive solution?"

"In fact, we've been in touch with those legal experts for the past year trying to draft a new model contract that would protect the company's interests from too much sacrifice and comply with the current legal rules, which is a one-and-done solution. It's just that it will take some time to weigh the critical point of the division of the company's interests and the rights of the artist. Kim Young-min said confidently, "As soon as the draft of the new contract is finalized, we will immediately submit it to the board of directors for decision." ”

Is the company finally going to revise the "slave" contract that has long been criticized by the world? Kangta and Boa, who were in the audience, secretly exchanged a look of surprise and curiosity mixed with anticipation.

Although the status, treatment and voice of the two of them who can enter the board of directors are not comparable to other artists, after all, they are still part of the artists, and they instinctively pay attention to this matter.

"Then we'll wait and see, and I hope that the new contract you propose will not hurt too many companies on the side. The shareholder representative snorted and expressed his noncommittal attitude.

Jin Yingmin glanced down at the memo in his hand, cleared his throat and said, "The next thing to discuss is that the Celestial Empire Prosperous Network has proposed a cooperation invitation to invite members of Girls' Generation to cover a Chinese song, and the submitter of this topic is ...... Hell, why didn't this matter come up with the Imperial Capital Branch? This bustling network can directly send the cooperation intention to Jin Yanping, the exclusive agent of the young time?"

S.M. has a branch in the imperial capital of the Celestial Empire, which is responsible for the performing arts activities and endorsement and publicity of its artists in the Celestial Empire. Sending the cooperation intention from the Celestial Empire directly to Jin Yanping like this is probably the first time in the world.

This is also one of the reasons why Jin Yanping could not make a decision and had to submit it to the board of directors for decision, because there is no precedent to follow.

Kim Yeon-jung raised her hand a little awkwardly to signal that she had something to say.

"Kenzie, what do you want to say?" Kim Young-min asked suspiciously, noticing her movements.

"I know that this matter was indirectly put forward through the cooperation opinions of Naxon's special manager and others, and it was also the director of the Jin Department that I brought the special manager to find. Kim Yeon-jung nodded and said, "A few days ago, Attorney Kwon came to me to talk about two things, the first is to create and produce a few background music for Naxon's new project, and I have already followed this cooperation, and I have submitted the specific written report to the music production department." As for the invitation for cooperation from their partner, the prosperous network, it was made by Kwon in passing, because the collaborator they intended to work with was a member of Girls' Generation, so I took them to Director Kim, who was in charge of young affairs......"

Speaking of this, Kim Yeon-jung paused, as if explaining something, and added as if talking to herself: "Anyway, it's not the first time that Naxon and Shaoshi have cooperated......"

Jin Yingmin frowned, the twists and turns caused by Han Geng's termination of the contract were not completely over, at this point in time, the invitation from the Celestial Empire for cooperation made him instinctively resistant.

If there is no huge Celestial Empire market as a confidence, does Han Geng have the courage to fight against the company?

"What is the origin of this bustling network?" Jin Yingmin turned his head to the Celestial Empire market consultant on the other side, and the subtext was: If it is a second- or third-rate small and medium-sized company, then turn a blind eye.

In addition to South Korea, there are full-time directors in charge of the American and Japanese markets where the company's artists are active, and the executive director Han Shimin and the non-executive director Nam So-young are doing this. However, for the Celestial Empire market, because the degree of involvement is not deep compared to Japan and the United States, there is no full-time director in charge, and only one consultant is set up.

"If I'm not mistaken, this bustling network is one of the four giants of the Celestial Empire Internet......" The consultant replied while quickly operating on the laptop in front of him, "I found it, in 2010, it ranked 390th among the top 500 enterprises in the Celestial Empire, with an annual revenue of 4.8 billion yuan and total assets of 18.8 billion yuan......"

Good guys, in terms of scale, the arms of this bustling network are thicker than the thighs of S.M.......

Kim Young-min hesitated for a moment, but it didn't take long to shake his head firmly: "Even if it's a big company, what's the matter? It's not what it used to be, and Girls' Generation is no longer suitable for cooperation of this nature to accept game promotion endorsements." Besides, it's still a cooperation from the Celestial Empire...... I'm inclined to turn down this invitation, what do you think?"

In a sense, Kim Yeon-pyeong's thoughts on the president are still in place, and Kim Young-min's consideration is almost the same as his judgment at the time.

Before the other members of the board of directors could speak, the shareholder representative preemptively expressed his disapproval: "President Kim, do you want to push the business that comes to your door out? Is such a hasty approach worthy of the trust that the board of directors has given you?"

"Director Cui, don't you know, the recent schedule of activities has been very tight. Kim Young-min explained, "Besides, the cooperation in game promotion and endorsement does not help much for the current youth......

"When I was young, I am now the No. 1 girl group in South Korea, what position do you think we can go to again? While they are at their peak, try to seize every opportunity to create profits for the company!" Director Choi did not back down, "There is no time? In the entertainment industry of the Republic of Korea, who doesn't know that if you want to make money, you have to keep your eyes on overseas? The market of the Celestial Empire is so big, and only one concert tour in Asia has been arranged? Now among the entertainment companies in South Korea, we are not the only artists with Celestial Dynasty nationality in our company, and JYP newly launched that girl group last year, it seems that there are two members from the Celestial Empire, right? Don't you know what Park Jin-young is planning? If we don't do the cake of the Celestial Empire Market, sooner or later it will fall into the hands of others!"