SM Entertainment reported lower Q3 sales and profit, but said it will drive recovery with major comebacks and global tours from Q4 onward.
November/4/2026 18:12Related Groups & Members
SM Entertainment announced its management results for this year’s third quarter and disclosed plans for its artists’ comebacks and global tours continuing into the fourth quarter and the first quarter of next year. SM Entertainment said today (the 4th), through an official press release, that on a consolidated basis for the third quarter of 2026 it recorded sales of 291.1 billion won (about 34.3 billion yen) and operating profit of 35.5 billion won (about 4.2 billion yen). Compared with the same period last year, sales fell 9.5% and operating profit fell 26.4%, and net profit for the period fell into the red due to the impact of foreign-exchange-related valuation losses caused by the strong won. Regarding these results, SM Entertainment explained, “By strategically carrying out overseas performances to bring together the global fandom and small-scale performances centered on communication with fans, the schedule of comebacks in Korea decreased somewhat,” and “Accordingly, direct sales from albums, music sources, and concerts, as well as operating profit at some major subsidiaries, temporarily decreased compared with the same period last year.” Meanwhile, on a separate-company basis, third-quarter sales were tallied at 173.4 billion won (about 20.4 billion yen), and operating profit at 28.4 billion won (about 3.3 billion yen). On the other hand, the IP-based indirect business division showed remarkable growth. The appearance division, at 29.2 billion won (about 3.4 billion yen), and the MD and licensing division, at 62.1 billion won (about 7.3 billion yen), were boosted by the expansion of artists’ advertising and event appearances, strong sales of planning and concert merchandise, and the effects of intellectual property (IP) collaborations, and increased by 21.3% and 23.5%, respectively, compared with the same period last year. Major subsidiaries also continued to improve. Dear U, the fan communication platform, achieved operating profit of 9.2 billion won (about 1.1 billion yen, up 5.6% year on year) thanks to an increase in paying subscribers and improved server operation efficiency. Dream Maker, a performance planning company, and KeyEast, a content production company, succeeded in turning profitable thanks to expanded collaboration with the parent company and the sales effect of new dramas. Meanwhile, SM C&C’s deficit widened due to increased music content production costs, and SM Life Design Group’s operating profit decreased because the volume of orders for album printed materials declined. SM Entertainment will launch a series of large-scale comebacks from the fourth quarter of this year through the first quarter of next year and move to turn around its performance. In the fourth quarter, in addition to the already announced comebacks of NCT WISH, SUPER JUNIOR’s Yesung, TVXQ’s Changmin, WayV’s Xiaojun, RIIZE, and Red Velvet’s Irene & Seulgi, releases are scheduled for NCT DREAM’s full album, NCT Taeyong’s full album, EXO’s Kai & Sehun unit mini-album, and TVXQ’s Yunho’s Japanese single. Next, the lineup for the first quarter of next year will also be richly colored. Starting with RIIZE’s first full album, releases are planned one after another, including Hearts2Hearts’ mini-album, Seulgi’s and Jaehyun’s solo full albums, the single by the SUPER JUNIOR-83z unit of Leeteuk and Heechul, NCT’s Jeno and Jaemin’s Japanese single, and NCT’s Chenle’s Chinese single. Global tours will also continue without interruption. After finishing its U.S. tour, aespa will enter a tour of nine European cities, including London, Paris, and Stockholm, and NCT WISH, which sold out all seats at Gocheok Sky Dome, will also hold a solo concert. In addition, NCT 127’s fifth tour, EXO’s encore concert, WayV’s tour of major Chinese cities, solo concert tours by Changmin and SHINee’s Minho, and Yesung’s 10th debut anniversary tour will visit music fans around the world. ・The era of the sixth-generation boy group? Debuts are coming one after another from agencies led by Min Hee-jin and others ・“MUSINSA” teams up with SM! Expanding business through collaboration products and merchandise sales with artists... toward K-pop x K-fashion business expansion
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