SM Entertainment(SM Entertainment(041510)) is joining hands with Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), China's largest music platform corporations, to target the Greater China entertainment market.
SM said on the 27th that it has established a joint venture, "STE," in Beijing, China, with TME and appointed Zhou Mi, an artist formerly of Super Junior-M, as CEO.
STE is a follow-up measure to SM and TME signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May and agreeing to build a cooperative framework in the Greater China market. The two companies plan to use the joint venture to ramp up business cooperation in areas such as discovering local artists, producing content, and management.
STE will first push a new Chinese rookie idol group project, aiming to debut within two to three years. It will hold auditions to cast artists and, after the group's debut, lead local management in China and support activities optimized for the local market.
It will also support the local activities of SM's Greater China artists. Going forward, STE plans to handle Greater China management for NCT DREAM's Renjun as well as WayV's Yangyang and Xiaojun, supporting localized promotions and various entertainment activities.
STE CEO Zhou Mi, who is an artist, built experience in K-pop production systems and on-site work over about 20 years as a member of Super Junior-M and as a solo artist. Afterward, serving as a director at SM's China subsidiary, Zhou gained hands-on experience in local business and management, and is regarded as a figure well-versed in the Chinese market with broad capabilities in the entertainment business.
CEO Zhou Mi said, "We will present differentiated content that combines SM's unrivaled strengths in IP and content production with the characteristics of the Greater China market," adding, "We will deliver meaningful results as a bridgehead for SM and STE."