It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the careers of many K-pop stars garnering huge global fanbases.

SM Entertainment is known for having led the worldwide K-pop phenomenon and the musical side of "Hallyu",[9] also known as the "Korean Wave", with early overseas successes such as H.O.T., S.E.S., and BoA.

[10] The label currently represents K-pop artists such as Kangta, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, Shinee, Exo, Red Velvet, NCT, Aespa, Riize, Naevis, and Hearts2Hearts.

[16] Shinhwa departed to a new agency, and new acts like the duo Isak N Jiyeon and the boy band Black Beat failed to attain the popularity of previous SM artists.

[24] In April 2011, SM, YG, JYP, KeyEast, AMENT, and Star J Entertainment came together to form United Asia Management, a joint investment agency geared towards advancing Asian music worldwide.

[46] In January 2016, founder Lee Soo-man held a conference at the SM Coex Artium, announcing plans for a new boy group, NCT, an acronym for Neo Culture Technology, with "unlimited members".

[53] At the beginning of 2016, the company opened a restaurant, SMT Seoul,[54] and also established a series of stores selling branded foods under the name SUM Market.

[56] On May 5, 2016, SM released the first single under its newly established EDM label ScreaM Records, "Wave", featuring f(x) members Amber and Luna and produced by Xavi & Gi and E-mart's Electro Mart.

[75] By April 2020, it was announced that SM and Naver had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with purpose to expand the reach of concerts to global audience.

The group's first lineup, Got the Beat, consists of BoA, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon from Girls' Generation, Seulgi and Wendy from Red Velvet, and Karina and Winter from Aespa.

[90] On December 1, SM announced that the company will be setting up its Southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore, which will be managing joint ventures in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

[95][96] The next day, Lee Soo-man filed an injunction against SM Entertainment for its issuance of new shares and convertible bonds to Kakao, stating the deal between the companies was "illegal" without his permission as the largest shareholder.

[101] On March 6, 2023, Kakao launched a tender offer bid, in which it sought to acquire 35% of SM Entertainment's shares, in addition to the 4.9% stake already owned by the company.

[102][103] On March 12, 2023, Hybe announced that it no longer planned to acquire a majority stake in SM Entertainment, saying that the bidding war with Kakao could "damage shareholder value".

[138] Their statement read, "(They) have had health problems and finally reached their physical limits, but SM continued to send them abroad and plan excessive activities.

[142] The injunction was dismissed by the Seoul Central District Court on February 17, 2011, and the final decision on the case was postponed indefinitely for mediation under the justice department.

[143][144] On November 28, 2012, during a voluntary arbitration at the Seoul Central District Court, SM and JYJ reached a mutual agreement to terminate all contracts between the two parties and not to interfere with each other's activities in the future, concluding the lawsuit.

[148] The artist's friend and later manager Sun Le also submitted a statement to the Korean courts citing SM's violation of Han Geng's rights, which was later leaked via the internet.

'"[150][151] On May 15, 2014, Kris Wu, a Chinese-Canadian member of Exo, filed a lawsuit to terminate his contract with SM, as first reported by Chinese news portal Sina.

Kris, whose real name is Wu Yifan, was quoted as saying, "The company has treated me like a machine part or as an object of control rather than presenting a vision as an entertainer.

[156]The following day, Jung released a statement claiming that in August 2014, her fellow group members and SM had been positive about the launch of her fashion business, Blanc and Eclare.

This prompted management to begin promoting Girls' Generation as eight members rather than nine, with the intention of announcing the news; however, Jung had already "posted her own perspective".

"[159][160] On October 10, 2014, Lu Han became the second Chinese member of Exo to file to nullify his contract with SM and leave the group, just over four months after Kris had done the same.

[citation needed] The stock's worth contracted by 15%, hitting the maximum decrease in price KOSDAQ allows for a day, and falling to a more-than-one-year low.

They released an official statement saying, "SM has ongoing lawsuits against Exo members Wu Yifan (Kris), Luhan, and Tao for violating their exclusive contracts and partaking in illegal promotions in China.

"[169][170] On June 1, 2023, Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin from Exo simultaneously ended their exclusive contacts with SM and took legal action against the company on the grounds of overdue payment and unreasonable deals.

The three believed that SM was exerting their power to force their artists into unfair "slave contracts" which violated existing laws regarding the entertainment industry.

"[174] In 2010, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) undertook an investigation into SM's policies, especially regarding artists' contract terms, and concluded that they were unfair.

On August 16, the Seoul High Court revealed their verdict on the issue: "The KFTC has canceled all corrective orders against SM, and the lawsuit costs will be paid by the defendant.

[177] The case involved entertainment agencies creating multiple different merchandise items and inserting photocards of their idols to influence buyers' purchasing decisions.