Fair Trade Commission Officially Approves Big Hit Entertainment's Acquisition Of Pledis Entertainment

The Fair Trade Commission (hereafter KFTC) has officially approved Big Hit Entertainment and Pledis Entertainment’s M&A (merger and acquisition). The KFTC is an administrative organization that regulates economic competition and imposes restrictions to prevent companies from monopolizing markets.

On October 18, the KFTC announced that they had approved Big Hit Entertainment’s acquisition of 85 percent of Pledis Entertainment’s issued shares. Big Hit Entertainment acquired 50 percent of Pledis Entertainment’s shares on May 20 and 35 percent more on June 9.

The KFTC explained, “We have reviewed the possibility of the merger between the two companies restricting competition in the domestic entertainment management market and the popular music planning and production market, which both Big Hit and Pledis compete in. Based on the review, it was concluded that the merger between the two companies would not pose a danger of restricting competition in related markets. Factors we have considered include the fact that their market share and concentration ratio following the merger would not be high and that there are many strong competitors in the market such as large entertainment agencies (such as SM, YG, and JYP) and general entertainment companies (such as Kakao M and CJ E&M).”

Big Hit Entertainment houses BTS, TXT, and Lee Hyun. Pledis Entertainment is currently home to artists including NU’EST, SEVENTEEN, Nana, Bumzu, Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon.

Watch the audition show “I-LAND” where both BTS and SEVENTEEN make special appearances:

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