Sales Figures for SM, YG, and JYP Published, SM in Lead

The sales figures of Korea’s top three entertainment agencies (SM, YG, JYP) have been revealed.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) published annual reports with the figures for all three agencies for 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.  In the past quarter, SM Entertainment reported sales of 384 billion won (roughly 326 million US dollars), up 198.71% from the previous year.  YG Entertainment reported a slight decline in sales from the previous year, with sales at 178 billion won (~151 million USD).  JYP Entertainment came in last, at 11 billion won (~ 9.4 million USD) in sales for the first quarter.

The considerably low figure for JYP Entertainment is attributed to JYP’s corporate structure.  Popular JYP artists, including the Wonder Girls, 2PM, and 2AM, are known to be owned by a privately owned subsidiary of JYP Entertainment.

Also attracting attention are the salaries of employees at all three agencies.

Salaries for the general staff at SM Entertainment ranged from 2.4 to 29.9 million won (~2 to 25 thousand US dollars).  YG Entertainment salaries were reported to be between 24.2 and 26.1 million won (~20 to 22 thousand US dollars), and JYP employees earned a reported 10.8 to 22.6 million won (~9 to 19 thousand US dollars).