“It was stock I bought 12 years ago as a Girls' Generation fan, but it jumped ten times.”
As the SM Entertainment stock price soared due to recent disputes over management rights, various stories of mere ‘Girls’ Generation fans’ are spreading online.
One account is of Mr. Yoo Han-Min, a Korean Girls’ Generation fan who invested money in buying stocks over a decade ago, who recalls the day his mobile phone would not stop ringing. He says his university friends had called to ask if Mr. Yoo had still kept his SM Entertainment stock that they remembered he had bought back in the days as a student and pure fan of Girls’ Generation.
In May 2011, Mr. Yoo bought 100 shares of SM Entertainment with savings from his part-time job. At that time, SM Entertainment’s share price was around 17,500 KRW. Mr. Yoo said, "Back then, I had no intention of making money. I just wanted to support the group as a fan other than buying albums, concert tickets and goodies.”
He continued, "As I got older and extremely busy, to the point where Girls’ Generation were no longer active as a group, I naturally forgot about the shares and did not even think about selling it. However it seems as though all my friends remembered, which is why they phoned to check if I had still been holding onto them. The point was, they wanted to know how much money I had made.”
As of the market closing time on February 13th at 15:30 (KST), the stock price is 110,600 KRW.
Mr. Yoo said, "Although making money was not my intention, it is great luck and perfect timing as I am actually getting married later this year in July.”
Recently on February 10th, as Kakao followed by HYBE jumped into SM Entertainment’s ‘takeover’, the stock price of SM Entertainment rocketed even higher.
According to the Korea Exchange, SM Entertainment closed trading at 114,700 KRW, which is up by 16,200 KRW (16.45%). Although it is a little less than the 120,000 KRW that HYBE had declared a 'soft offer', this figure marks the highest share price since the listing of SM Entertainment.
