SM acquires post-production company to accelerate metaverse business

SEOUL, April 26 (Yonhap) -- SM Entertainment, a K-pop powerhouse, said Wednesday it has acquired a local post-production company to reinforce its metaverse and content business capabilities.

SM said it acquired a 51 percent stake in Studio Clon a week ago through Studio Kwangya, the agency's subsidiary specializing in the production of content for metaverse businesses, making Clon its new subsidiary.

Founded in 2011, Studio Clon provides comprehensive services for post-production, including editing and mixing of video content. It has been handling more than 2,300 titles annually.

"We acquired the studio to reinforce our metaverse and content capabilities, one of the key sectors among the five main themes announced as part of our 'SM 3.0' business strategies in February," SM said in a press release. "The acquisition demonstrates how we're pushing for the 3.0 strategies with speed."

The SM 3.0 vision unveiled by the agency is centered on establishing multiple production centers and labels, as well as seeking more business opportunities from the intellectual property (IP) rights of its artists.

The company said it plans to enhance its virtual IP rights by adding Studio Clon's technology to the virtual human and visual special effects technologies owned by Studio Kwangya.

It also plans to build a database of the IP rights of its artists leading the global K-pop boom for use in the creation of other content.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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